


The Fine Line

by babytobin_horse, uswnt5ever



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Multi, talex - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2014-02-28
Packaged: 2018-01-03 21:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 61,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babytobin_horse/pseuds/babytobin_horse, https://archiveofourown.org/users/uswnt5ever/pseuds/uswnt5ever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The pressures of being a first-time captain and a school rivalry running deep just might be enough to force you onto that fine line.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes! Kate and I are writing together again. It was such a great experience writing "The Status of Us" that we decided to write another fic. We hope you enjoy. Let us know what you think so we know how to write the story and if you guys actually read it. :)

It took a moment for Tobin to realize what happened. The whistle blew, angry cries were heard from all around her, sweat dripped from every pore reminding her just how hard her body is working, fresh blood ran down her leg from where the defender’s cleat met her skin. She got up in a daze not knowing the seconds between her running and her falling, the goals between the tied score of 2-2. She knew one thing though. She needed to win this game. To lose to one’s biggest and only rival would be a tragedy, a story to not tell. Before she could anything else, a pair of intense blue eyes began to aggressively make their way over to her.

The pain in her leg faded as the girl’s words attacked her. Alex Morgan. The opposing captain and quite possibly the worst human being she’d ever come across. Tobin was not one to hate easily, but Alex lit a different fire within the girl. Her resolve returned as she listened to the anger in the raspy voice that was like listening to a cat slowly being crushed. She was determined to win, despite the fatigue, and pain. As long as she beat Alex Morgan, that’s all that matters.

It happened so fast that Alex had stood in a daze for a moment trying to figure out if it was real or not. She was at the halfway line, hoping her defenders and midfield could get the ball out of their half when Tobin Heath, captain of their rival team, dribbled towards Kristie, who went in for a tackle. Tobin tried to do some stupid cheeky move Alex had come to hate almost more than the girl herself when they went down. Kristie held her knee; Tobin was bleeding. To say Alex was furious is a damn understatement. She immediately sprinted over, words flying out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

“What the hell?!” She screamed, glaring at Tobin. She would have checked on her player, but Syd’s already got it covered. Instead, she kept going, sending all the hate she had for the girl out. “Are you fucking kidding me?! You could’ve just tried to dribble around her! Ref, is that not a yellow?! It should be a damn yellow!”

The ref shook his head and gave both players a warning. That only pissed Alex off further.

“You’re kidding me!” she screamed again. She needed Kristie. She needed everyone on the field at that moment. She couldn’t have her team lose the game. When Hope turned down the position of captain for her senior year, insisting Alex have it instead, it was a whole new load on Alex’s shoulders. Now, she wasn’t letting this team lose as long as she was leading them. “This is such bullshit!” Alex yelled, her eyes still on the number 17, who was getting up and getting treated by trainers. “Fucking bullshit,” she muttered.

“Al,” Megan came up to her side, giving her a look. “Calm down.”

“Calm down?!” Alex cried out. “Are you being serious right now? Didn’t you just see what she did to Mewie?”

Megan took a shaky breath, trying to remain calm herself. “Mewie’s being taken care of. She’ll get up and start playing now.”

“She walks away with a warning, Pinoe!” Alex went on.

“13,” the referee barked. “If you don’t calm down, I’m going to have to card you.”

The whole team gave Alex a look, but she didn’t pay attention to anyone’s gaze more than she felt her keeper’s eyes on her back. She turned around to see Hope’s icy stare on her and she knew she needed to clean up her act up quickly.

“We need you Al,” Megan continued in a low voice. “No one scores like you.”

Alex nodded, her eyes going to Tobin who was all cleaned up and walking away. “Fine,” she spat. “Let’s win.”

Tobin watched Alex fume in the center of the field as the trainers quickly cleaned up her leg. She shook her head and scoffed as the girl’s pleas further fueled her desire to take away any sort of pride the opposing team had walked on the pitch with.

She noticed Alex look back to Hope Solo, quite arguably the best keeper in their state. Taken aback by the exchange she yelled, “Can the real captain please stand up!” but she was sure no one heard her other than the trainers who were too occupied with bandaging her up.

Tobin felt a light hand on her shoulder, a familiar touch that she knew was Lauren.

“Tobs, are you alright? That was a pretty nasty tackle.” The girl asked genuinely worried about her friend’s leg.

“I’m fine, just a little cut is all” Tobin said still hyped from the game thus far.

“Are we good?” Tobin asked the trainer who glared at her with a ‘I’m going as fast as I can’ look.

“Hey hey, calm down, ok? We need you thinking clearly out there, don’t let Morgan get inside your head like she does..” Cheney said with a warning look before running back into the midfield.

“She could never get inside my head!” Tobin yelled back to her friend unsure if she even heard her reply.

She ran back on the field as the trainer finished up and was instantly informed by the daggers sent her way, that Alex heard her comment.

 

The game presumed and Tobin found a new aggressiveness in her touches. She kicked the ball harder, ran faster, and did her best to keep the ball away from Alex who was known to be dangerous, especially with a win on the line. There were five minutes on the clock and the score remained 2-2. In a quick turnaround Ashlyn kicked a longball to the midfield, finding Tobin’s feet. The girl started dribbling down  the left side getting past one defender before the whistle blew again. Focused, Tobin didn’t even notice until Christen stopped her. Tobin turned around to see the ref hovering in the midfield over a fallen Kriegs and a fuming Sydney Leroux who tried to argue with the ref that she didn’t actually do anything. Tobin ran over to make sure her teammate was alright but not before crossing paths with Alex again.

“Sydney didn’t touch her!” Alex groaned as she made her way over to the injury. “It was all ball!”

The rest of the game had gone on, and Alex was hungry for a goal. This team needed the win, and she would do anything to make it happen. It was another collision that was a blur. Sydney had the ball, she was doing quick 1-2 passes between Megan and Yael. She had the ball again and was going to shoot when number 11 came out of nowhere and tackled the ball away, sending it to a midfielder on the other team. This sent Sydney forward, almost falling but not quite while the defender sat on the floor, curled on and holding her ankle. Alex had looked up to see if a call was made, but there was Tobin Heath dribbling away - even after the whistle blew.

Now Alex was annoyed, just wanting the game to be over with one more goal from her team. She walked the short distance, but Tobin Heath crossed her path.

“Way to pay attention to the game,” Alex glared at her.

“You can’t take a call without trying to eject someone from the game...Way to be fair Morgan…” Tobin scoffed as she continued walking to the collision and away from Alex.

Alex’s jaw dropped. “That’s a good joke, Heath!” she yelled after her, then quickly followed suit towards the collision, walking over to Syd who was still trying to talk to the referee.

“I didn’t touch her!” Sydney argued. “I was just going in for a shot! _She’s_ the one who came out of nowhere!”

Tobin kneeled down to talk to Ali “Are you okay Kriegs?” She began but was instantly more infuriated at the cries of Sydney.

“I’m okay, it’s just a little sore” Ali said with a pained expression on her face.

Tobin helped the girl up and couldn’t help her comment to Alex as she walked by her.

“Tell your team to be more careful...or maybe your keeper should do it, she seems to be the one running the show around here..”

Alex gaped at the statement as Tobin walked by. “I swear to--”

“Let your soccer do the talking, Heath!” Sydney called after her. She turned to Alex. “Just three minutes left plus injury time. Keep your head in the game.”

Alex sighed, nodding. “Got it.”

“You’re captain for a reason, you know.”

“I know. Let’s kick their ass. Do me a favor. Watch out for little Miss Smart Ass for me? I know if I get too close I’ll end up getting a yellow for anything I do to her.”

“You got it, Captain,” Sydney smirked, giving her a pat on the back and then jogging away.

Alex watched as Tobin bounced energetically around. “I hate you,” she spat, shaking her head.

 _I hate her_ was all Tobin thought as she jumped up to get herself ready for the next three or so minutes left. She took a deep breath as the whistle blew to restart the game.

 

Tobin exhaled deeply as the final whistle blew and the game ended 2-2, just the way no one on the field wanted it to. Her emotions ranged from angry to sad to frustrated to even more frustrated. She stormed back to the bench and took a long swig of water not making eye contact with Alex or anyone on the other bench. She knew that she had to line up with the rest of the team to shake hands with the opposing team for a ‘good game’ but she couldn’t bring herself to move from the bench. Her head hung low and she felt herself being crushed by the expectations and pressure put on her.

“Tobs, c’mon” Kelley softly encouraged as the rest of the team was already shaking hands.

Tobin sighed and got up reluctantly. She got in the back of the line and didn’t bother looking at the faces of her opponents as she shook their hands. She knew immediately the last hand she shook was Alex’s by the firmness it held, much like hers probably did at the same time. She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘good game’ to the one girl that she’s had a heated rivalry and hatred towards for most of her life. As the team walked to the bench for a team meeting , Tobin took one glance over to Alex who was already glaring at her. One look, and Tobin knew exactly how Alex felt. Not only did the look tell her how much the girl hated her, it also was a challenge to be better next time they met for ending in a tie never brought resolution to opposing forces. Tobin gave the littlest of nods to acknowledge that next time would be different. There would be a winner and a loser.

When the final whistle blew, it took a lot for Alex to not scream and argue. To her, tying was just as bad - or even worse - than losing. She shook her head angrily as she joined her teammates to get water quickly before they shook hands. She didn’t want to do it. Or, well, she didn’t want to shake one person’s hand. It was ridiculous, really. The thing that pissed Alex off the most about the girl was that she actually did have skill.

“C’mon Alex,” Sydney beckoned.

Alex sighed, tossing the water bottle aside and falling into line with the rest of her team. She mumbled “good games” even though she didn’t really care as she went down. It wasn’t until she met with the rival captain that her face remained in a glare and her hand shake was firm, not that Tobin’s wasn’t. She moved on and followed the rest of her team to the bench, still glaring at Tobin. When the other girl’s eyes met hers, she knew they at least had one thing besides their leadership and the sport they loved in common. They both hated each other. They hated each other more than the tie that just occurred. The rivalry ran deep between  the teams, but it never quite hit Alex like this. She’d learned to hate Tobin as the years passed, and this year, seeing they were both honored with the title of a captain made her angrier. When Tobin gave her the subtle nod, Alex’s jaw set. She knew what it meant. Neither of them were backing down next game. Neither were willing to let this happen again.

After Coach’s quick words, Alex found herself sitting in the locker room, untying her boots as she felt someone join her. She stiffened a little. She knew Hope was mad at her - who wouldn’t be? Over the years Hope had become like an older sister, a mentor, and Alex had no doubt in her mind that she had let the keeper down.

“What the hell was that today?” Hope asked in a low voice that meant Alex was in trouble.

Alex sighed, taking off her cleats. “I don’t know, Hope. It’s fucking Tobin Heath!”

“Alex, you need to stay level-headed in games or else you’re not playing,” Hope said slowly.

“I know that,” Alex frowned. “I know, I know. It’s just...the calls that were made today, Hope! And then there’s fucking Heath - did you hear the bitch? She was pissing me off!”

“I turned down a second year of being captain for a reason,” the keeper reminded her. “I believe you can do this. I believe you can lead this team. Don’t let me down, kid. And don’t let Tobin Heath get into your head. She’s all mind games. Let the soccer do the talking for you, okay?”

“Okay,” the striker sighed, her shoulders slumped. “Okay.”

“Good, now when we play them again I want you to be solely focused on the game, understand? Forget Heath, forget the calls. Don’t argue with the ref unless it’s absolutely necessary. Start carrying yourself properly out there, or else Coach is going to take that captain’s band off of you.”

Alex hung her head, feeling disappointed in letting the one person she looked up to the most on the team down. “Got it.”

Hope patted her knee. “You’ve got this Al. Don’t let this get to you. We’ll win next time.” She gave a slight smile when Alex lifted her head and then walked off.

Alex sighed, shaking her head. No one told her being captain caused this much pressure to be on her.

 

Tobin couldn’t bring herself to look at any of her teammates as the team huddle dismissed. Her coach grabbed her before she could make her way to the locker room.

“Tobin? What was that? Listen, get your act together 17, I made you captain for a reason. You’re better than whatever the hell that was out there today.”

Tobin nodded without a word. She walked behind the rest of her team as she contemplated what she should say to the group of girls she was supposed to be leading. She felt like an apology was necessary but even she knew it wasn’t enough for the way she didn’t lead her team that game. She paused before turning the handle of the door. She knew all eyes would immediately be on her as soon as she took a step through the door.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning the door handle.

She immediately met the eyes of Lauren, whose gaze was filled with disappointment and worry.

Tobin nodded in understanding before making her way to her locker, unable to say anything. Before she could put her stuff down a slam of a locker interrupted the awkward silence.

“So you don’t have anything to say Captain?!” Ashlyn shouted, her voice echoing off the walls of the locker room.

Tobin couldn’t bring herself to look at the team’s keeper, and one of her closest friends.

“Seriously Tobin?!” Ashlyn continued as she opened the door to the locker room.

“No! You know what Ash...I do have something to say!” Tobin said as she slammed her locker and stopped the girl in her tracks.

“We could’ve won today, we could’ve played better, we could’ve been more focused-”Tobin began.

“Oh don’t you dare start with this crap-” Ashlyn fumed.

“- We could’ve been a better team….” Tobin continued ignoring Ashlyn’s interruption. “But we weren’t, and we didn’t win..and it’s because I could’ve been better, I could have led you guys instead of worrying about whatever Alex fricken Morgan was doing… I could’ve been better.. and I’m sorry” Tobin finished surprised at the end, not expecting to say any of it for fears of looking weak or incapable of leading a team. It was a worry that she had as soon as she accepted the title of ‘captain’. Tobin knew it would be a true test of her character yet as far as she could tell, the title brought her nothing but a constant pressure and even more hatred towards a one Alex Morgan.

The locker room was quiet after Tobin finished, the girl looked around unsure what effect her speech had on her team.

Finally Lauren spoke up “We’ll be better next time, you’ll be better next time Tobin..” she said leaving Tobin unsure if it was a suggestion or an order.  

 

The next morning, Alex needed something to make her feel better. She knew her team was probably mad at her for the way she was losing control yesterday so calling any of them up and asking to hang out was out of the question. Instead, she decided to go to the local indoor soccer place. Sure, she wanted to play some soccer, but she knew that it was Servando’s day to work. Servando wasn’t her boyfriend - not by any means. He did end up flirting with her every time she showed up during his shift, and Alex could use some of that at the moment. So, she got dressed and put her hair up with her pink pre-wrap and decided to put on a little more makeup than she typically did.

As she swung the door open, she found Servando off to the side, handing a small ball to a kid no older than six. When he heard the bells above the door go off, he looked up and immediately grinned at the sight of Alex.

“Hey Alex,” he greeted as the kid ran off.

Alex returned the greeting with a smile. “Hey. I didn’t know you were working today.” Yes, she did.

Servando chuckled. “Yeah, I take more shifts now, I could use the money. No friends joining you today?”

“Nah,” the brunette shook her head. “Just me. Rough game yesterday. Ended in a tie and plenty of fouls.”

“Damn,” Servando whistled. “Well, glad you’re not scraped up.”

Alex smiled, trying not to blush. “Thanks.”

“You want to use one of the mini fields?” he asked, leaning on the counter.

She nodded. “Yeah, if you have an open one.”

“Sure,” he gave her a grin. “Come with me.”

Alex followed Servando to the open mini field, giving him a good look as she did so. He wasn’t much taller than her, but his looks definitely made up for it. So did his build. “Do you work out?” she asked out of nowhere.

“Why?” he asked, turning to face her. “You can tell?” he winked.

She giggled. “Maybe.”

“Thanks,” he laughed. “Yeah, I do.” He then stopped, signaling they had arrived. “Well, here you are.”

“Thank you,” Alex said, dropping the ball in her hand to her feet.

“I’ll be in the front if you need anything,” he reminded her. “Have fun Al.”

Al? That was the first time he had called her anything besides Alex. She quickly recovered and mumbled a quick “thank you” before dribbling around on the field.

 

Tobin woke up the next day feeling just as mentally and physically drained as the day before. The words of her coach and her teammates swirled around in her head the whole night becoming something even worse than a nightmare: reality. She got up and tried to do some stretches and breathing exercises that usually calm her down but it was no use. She still felt the anger and guilt flow through her. She decided there was no better way to get some of the unwanted feelings out other than to get back to a soccer ball and an empty net. She had heard of an indoor soccer gym that was about twenty minutes away. She decided she would give it a try for once, although indoor turf was nothing compared to grass.

 

She walked into the dome like building and gaped at the size of the place.

“Wow” she said aloud as she took it all in.

“First timer huh?” a low voice asked.

Tobin looked to see a darker set of brown eyes looking her way from behind the counter.

“Yeah, this place is awesome!” Tobin admitted, not expecting to be amazed as she was.

“Why haven’t I seen you around here before?” the guy asked curiously.

“I prefer the real thing, but I might have to start coming here more often” _He’s pretty cute_ she thought as she flashed him a smile.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing that smile around here more often” He said returning a smile himself.

“I’m Tobin” she said with a blush as she shook the guy’s hand.

“Serv, you’re trusty man servant...anything you need...nets, cones, balls..I can hook ya up!” He assured.

“Ah perfect, well I could use a net actually !” Tobin said already liking her new acquaintance.

 

Serv set up Tobin’s net across from the mini fields.

“Alright, let me know if you need anything else!” He said with another grin.

“Thanks, I’m good for now!”

“Well I’ll come check on you and that smile of yours in a bit” he said with a wink and a thumbs ups.

“-uh ok” Tobin laughed sure her face was red as a beet by now.

 

Alex was minding her own business and messing around with her ball when she noticed a net going up across from her field and the others. Curiously, she stopped what she was doing and watched as Servando set it up. She couldn’t tell who was with him, just that it was a girl. Alex frowned when the girl laughed, but she was too far to make out any words or facial details. She sighed. It should be her Servando was spending time with. She turned away from the scene and juggled the ball for a bit when a few minutes later, someone stepped onto her field.

“How are we doing in here?” Servando asked, a smile on his face.

She smiled, pleased he was with her now. “Good I guess,” Alex shrugged. “What’s with the net over there?” The ball fell to the ground and Alex trapped it under her foot, looking at Servando curiously.

“Oh, a newbie just came in so I set it up for her and got her going,” Servando brushed it off like it was no big deal.

“Oh that’s cool…” Alex said absentmindedly. She wanted to know who that girl was. “Why didn’t you just bring her to the mini fields?”

“Please Alex,” he laughed, walking towards her. “Mini fields is your turf for now.”

Alex beamed. “Shut up.”

“Make me,” he challenged and Alex had to stop herself from tripping of the ball.

“A quick one-on-one should do it,” she smirked.

“Oh, you’re on.”

 

Tobin started to do some warm up dribble and juggling exercises. She effortlessly took a few shots, her aim on point. Wondering where her new friend went off to she looked towards the front desk but didn’t see him. She looked across the way to see his hands on some girl’s hips as she tried to dribble a ball away from him. Tobin could tell it wasn’t a ‘just friends’ touch and she immediately felt a little jealous after the guy made her feel special. She took another shot, a bit angrier than before the ball bounced off the crossbar and flew towards the mini field where the two were.

Tobin contemplated going to retrieve it but reasoned she didn’t go to meet a boy but to play soccer. She shrugged it off and ran after the lost ball. She tried not to look at the two but couldn’t help but steal a glance at the last minute. She immediately recognized the pink pre-wrap on the girl’s tightly pulled back ponytail. She made a inaudible gagging noise as Alex squealed from Serv tackling her to the ground.

“Servando!” Alex screamed as she hit the ground.

Servando laughed, his hands still on Alex’s hips. “Didn’t see that one coming, did you Alex?”

“Jerk!” she pouted, hitting him on the arm.

Suddenly, there was a vibrating coming from Servando’s waist. He groaned. “They need me in the front.”

“Now?” Alex frowned.

“Yup. I’ll be back to finish this, I promise,” he said, releasing his grip on the striker’s waist and lifting himself up. He flashed her a grin and then walked away, not even noticing Tobin on his way out.

Alex was flustered from the sudden contact and evened her breathing as she slowly got up and retrieved her ball. _Well, this is turning out to be a pretty good day_ she thought with a smile.

Seeing the smile on Alex’s face gave Tobin even more reason to confront the girl. She mockingly laughed as she walked towards the girl “Too bad a ref isn’t around for you to bitch at for that tackle…” she snidely remarked.

At the sound of the voice Alex froze.

 


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confrontation outside of typical situations are difficult to understand, just like secrets will be harder to keep.

Alex had heard the voice only yesterday on the field. Turning, she saw the girl she realized a second later was the newbie Servando was talking about...and her worst enemy. She gave her a glare. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Getting in some extra touches, y’know staying on top of my game...Like you...Except when I say touches, I mean on the soccer ball not on the guy who works here..”

At Tobin’s words, the striker crossed her arms and scoffed. “Please, like you weren’t totally into him when you first walked in.”

“Nahh, you can focus on him and I’ll focus on beating you and your team” Tobin spat back.

Alex’s jaw clenched. “We’ll see about that, Heath. You know, you do a lot of talk.”

“You better watch it Alex, I can do a lot more than run my mouth, can you do anything other than whine and complain?”

“Can you do anything besides giving me bitchy comments every five seconds?” Alex retorted.

Tobin let out a laugh and stared at the girl, just as Alex looked like she was about to say something else, Tobin interjected “Oh that was six seconds...guess I can do more than you think I’m capable of..” she stated as she began to walk away. “It won’t be the last time that happens..” she added as she didn’t bother looking back at Alex’s reaction.

Alex was now biting the inside of her cheek. The fact she could go from giddy to completely angry thanks to Tobin was a total mystery to her. “Save the bullshit and let your feet do the talking on the field, Tobin!” she called after her. Granted, it wasn’t her best come back, but she was so pissed she couldn’t even think straight.

Tobin stopped in her tracks at Alex’s comment. She was reaching a boiling point with the girl, as much as she should’ve kept walking she couldn’t stop herself from continuing the argument.

“You think I’m full of shit? You call yourself the captain but it’s pretty clear that Hope is running the team...you wouldn’t even know the first thing about being a leader without her..” Tobin bit back. She herself felt the sting from her comment as she too struggled with identifying herself in the ‘captain’ position. Not that she would ever let Alex know that..

Tobin had really done it now. Alex’s whole body tensed up as the words came out of the other girl’s mouth. Her foot pushed down the ball as she tried very hard to stay under control. She got a faraway look, not even staring at Tobin anymore as she said, “They never tell you what it’s really like to be captain...that’s something you find out yourself when you’re on the field trying to get your team through a game.” She wasn’t being hostile anymore. Her voice was softer, more as if she was just musing to herself. Her voice could crack soon and she knew it, but she only prayed she could keep it together in front of the girl who would make a point to pick on her weaknesses.

The stern steadfastness of Tobin’s face began to soften as she took in the girl’s words. She expected another cutting retaliatory comeback but was shocked to hear Alex’s confession. For once Tobin felt as if her and Alex were seeing eye to eye on something other than hating each other. She let out an exhausted sigh before licking her lips to speak again.

“They never said it would be easy…..” she paused feeling strange having a civilized conversation with a girl she’s supposedly hated most of her life… “We’ll be alright..” Tobin finished as she resumed to walking away from the girl. It felt strange to walk away from Alex feeling more connected rather than more disjointed. Tobin felt her body language shift as her head and shoulders were lower and her legs seemed to drag more as she suddenly felt much smaller. She could feel the insecurity of being the captain rising to the surface and she only hoped Alex didn’t notice the change in her.

Alex was just as equally as surprised when those words came out of Tobin’s mouth. It was probably the first time she’d heard the girl talk softly - usually it was shouting and snarkiness on her end. The words she said repeated over and over again in Alex’s mind as she watched Tobin walk away. Something was different about her...about the both of them now, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. Feeling connected to Tobin in that way was strange, and she wasn’t sure what it meant.

 

It was the day after the game and Kelley was amped. Not because she was reeling from the intense game the night before, but because of a certain someone. She stupidly smiled at her phone as she read the ‘good morning’ message they sent her. She jumped in the shower and couldn’t help herself from belting out the latest beyonce song using her shampoo bottle as the microphone, of course. She anxiously looked at the time, and was disappointed to see that she had to wait two more hours until she could meet up with her special someone. She felt the nerves run through her system as she stared at her closet wondering what to wear. This someone was cool, intense, and seemingly nothing like Kelley at all. That’s why she liked her so much.

After checking herself in the mirror a handful of times and finally deciding on whether to wear aviators or ray bands she got in her car to go meet her ‘someone’. To avoid any more nerves she rolled down her windows and blasted music to drown out her racing heartbeat and her rampant thoughts.

She pulled into the parking lot that they usually met at, halfway between their respective houses. She looked around and saw no sign of the familiar car. She ran her fingers through her hair and waited as patiently as she could for the other someone.

Minutes later, a car pulled up next to Kelley’s. After a pause, the person got out of the car and tapped gently on Kelley’s passenger window, a small smile on her face. When the window rolled down, she grinned. It was weird to see such a person with a grin. She was usually so serious when Kelley saw her. “Hey babe, are you gonna let me in before everyone sees us or…?” She nervously glanced around, making sure no one was watching. It was hard being in a relationship like this, but she couldn’t help herself. It wasn’t like she meant to fall for Kelley. The small, freckled defender just unexpectedly fell into her life the way that she wasn’t supposed to.

Kelley was too preoccupied trying to give herself a ‘cool and calm’ look to notice the car pull up next to her. She jumped a little at the tap on her window, she turned and instantly melted at the smile on the girl. Just when she thought her heart couldn’t race any faster, the girl called her ‘babe’ causing Kelley to want to just curl up in a ball right then and there.

Kelley unlocked the passenger side door, almost forgetting that the two had to keep their relationship a secret . It wasn’t ideal at all, but everytime Kelley began to doubt it, one look from the girl reaffirmed all of the negatives such as the distance, the secretiveness of it all, and the fact that they were supposedly rivals and had an obligation to hate each other.

“So where should we go today _babe_?” Kelley emphasized the ‘babe’ mocking the girl’s pet name, but showing an appreciation for it all at the same time.

The grin didn’t seem like it’d be leaving her face for awhile. Watching how her girlfriend was still so nervous and excited about all of this was the reason she’s stayed around so long. Anyone else, Hope would’ve called it quits two weeks in - or just strictly made it a friends with benefits thing - but Kelley...she was different. Even this early in their relationship, she knew Kelley was the type of girl that was worth all this risk.

She thought for a moment before deciding, “Let’s get something to eat. I haven’t had lunch yet.”

“Oh! let’s go to this restaurant that just opened by my school, it’s-” Kelley stopped herself as a frown replaced her smile.

She sighed before continuing “I almost forgot...Christen works there..if she saw us together..well” Kelley finished knowing Hope would get the idea without having to explain further.

“Ugh I hate this..” Kelley blurted out, a new frustration overcoming her.

Hope sighed, running a hand through her hair as Kelley explained. She shook her head and looked at her girlfriend. “Hey,” she said, her index finger finding its place under Kelley’s chin, making her face the older girl. “We’re in this for a reason. It’s hard, but it’s worth it, okay? I hate this just as much as you, but that’s not going to stop me from seeing you, Kel. We’ll find somewhere else to go.”

“No wonder you’re parents called you ‘Hope’” Kelley said, her smile returning as she turned her car engine on. “Okay we can go to that taco place outside of town!” she said .

Hope laughed softly at Kelley’s comment. Leave it to the defender to make her giddy. “Good idea KO,” she nodded in approval, pressing her back against her seat. As Kelley drove away from the lot she sighed. “You know, I was really worried about you yesterday. Players were flying everywhere.”

“You were?!” Kelley asked surprised yet over the moon that Hope not only noticed her but was worried as well. From the time that she knew Hope, it was clear that when it was gametime, her head was in the game no matter what. The fact that the girl was able to focus on worrying about Kelley while at the same time being the best keeper in the state gave Kelley an uncontrollable smile.

From a side glance Hope could see she took the girl by surprise. Of course, nothing else really mattered to Hope when it was game time, but when her girlfriend was on the pitch and some of her own defenders were being taken down, it worried her. Thankfully, nothing happened and Hope was able to stay focused due to the fact Kelley wasn’t near her goal. “Duh,” she laughed. “but your captain needs to cool it, you know. Her smart ass comments need to be bit back.”

Kelley suddenly wished the topic hadn’t come up at all. Tobin was not only her teammate and captain but was also one of her best friends. The last person she wanted to defend her against was Hope.

“Hey...Tobs isn’t a bad person...she just has an issue with your captain” she paused unsure if it was the time or place to ask but she couldn’t stop herself once she started “Hope.. why aren’t you the captain? That Morgan girl just seems way in over her head”

After hearing about Tobin, Hope shrugged. She didn’t know much about the girl so she let it go. She stayed silent for a moment after Kelley’s question and little comment after. “I need someone I can leave this team to when I graduate. There’s no one else that I trust to do that besides Al. She’s like my little sister, and I’m trying to teach her how to be a leader so she can do it on her own. She just needs to learn not to let everything get to her. It’s a weakness.”

“She has a lot to learn..” Kelley mumbled out, but instantly regretted it once she realized what she said and who she said it to. “..I mean, I’m sorry babe, that came out wrong..it’s just this whole rivalry thing..it’s getting old”.

Hope shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I get it, Kel. I do. But the rivalry’s just so deep into our schools there’s really nothing we can do,” she explained. She leaned over, kissing the top of Kelley’s  head. “Come on, let’s enjoy us today.”

 

Later that night, Alex was invited by Sydney, Kristie and Yael to go out to eat. Grateful for anything to get her mind off of the weird interaction with Tobin from earlier that day, she agreed and had Yael pick her up to take her to the restaurant. The striker stayed abnormally quiet on the way there.

“You okay?” Yael asked, giving her a quick side glance before her eyes returned to the road.

Alex sighed. “Uh, yeah...a  lot on my mind.”

“Is this about yesterday?” Yael guessed. “You know, we all have our days. None of us are mad at you about how you acted. If we were in the same position, we probably would’ve reacted similarly.”

The shorter one nodded, taking in the words her teammate was saying. It wasn’t what was on her mind, but she’ll take it.“I know, it’s just...I feel like I’m letting you guys down. I feel like I’m letting Hope down.”

“You’ve never been in this position before Alex, you’re still learning. Stop being hard on yourself.” Yael smiled. “We’re having fun tonight, got it?”

Alex laughed. “Yes ma’am!”

They arrived at the restaurant and immediately found Sydney and Kristie who waved like mad women at them until they took their seats.

“Wow guys way to embarrass me,” Alex rolled her eyes.

“Only the best for you, Captain!” Sydney teased, giving her a light shove.

As they browsed the menus and filled the air with chatter (and occasional screams from Sydney), Alex was able to forget about what happened earlier at the indoor gym. She was enjoying the moment and not letting anything faze her tonight because she was sure that was the least she deserved in the past 24 hours.

Feeling strange ever since her interaction with Alex earlier that day, Tobin welcomed the invite to go to dinner with  Cheney, Kelley, and Christen. She immediately forgot about the run in as the stress and pressure dissipated with every laugh. No one was talking about soccer, Alex, or yesterday’s game, which were the last things Tobin wanted to  think about.

“Hey Kell where were you today? I texted you to go to lunch!” Cheney asked as the four friends made their way into the restaurant.

“Uhhh I went to that taco place outside of town..my phone must’ve been turned off- sorry Chen!” Kelley replied hoping to end the conversation there.

“What’s a little squirrel doing so far away from their tree?” Tobin quipped.

“Hah just getting my mind off of yesterday y’know” Kelley stated not lying but definitely keeping Hope out of the equation.

“Ah right, anything to do with yesterday, i’ll gladly like to forget about” Tobin said as she walked into the restaurant door.

“-Uh well doesn’t look like that’s going to happen tonight…” Christen remarked as she looked over to see Alex and her friends sitting at a table on the side.

Alex and the other girls were busy laughing at some joke Sydney cracked when Kristie’s giggles stopped short. “Uh oh.”

“What?” Yael raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong Mewie?”

“We’ve got company,” she said, her eyes trained on the door as Christen was already looking at them.

All Alex’s feelings of frustration and the strangeness that accompanied thoughts of Tobin found themselves back in Alex’s system as she scanned the girls that walked in and noticed the rival captain in the group. _Great_ , she thought as the weird feeling returned.

“Damn it,” Sydney groaned. “I just wanted a nice night.”

“And we’ll still have one,” Yael said, turning away from their rivals that had entered. “I doubt they’re gonna sit anywhere near here.”

Alex’s eyes were still on Tobin as she barely processed what Yael was saying.

Tobin cringed as the hostess brought their group over to a booth across from Alex’s table.

 _Not tonight_ was all she could think as she sat down and hid her face behind the menu hoping a confrontation could be avoided.

Alex’s eyes snapped to Sydney, knowing the girl was ready to say something. “Don’t.”

“Come on Al, they’re right there. No refs to tell us to stop arguing...just a little chat,” Sydney argued.

“Sydney,” Kristie frowned, not happy with her best friend’s idea.

“No Syd,” Alex said firmly, trying to use her captain title as authority even off the field. “Don’t get us in trouble tonight. You can get your revenge when we play them again.”

“Aw come on, if this was yesterday after the game, you’d be so willing to do it,” the other striker pointed out. “Why not tonight?”

For some reason, Alex didn’t want to share on her morning activities. Whatever exchange that happened between her and Tobin was to stay between her and Tobin, at least in her mind. Her teammates didn’t need to know. Now that she thought about it, she hoped Tobin didn’t say anything to her teammates either. That was the last thing she needed. “It’s not worth it,” Alex said simply. “Just try to enjoy dinner,” she pleaded.

Sydney sighed, looking back at her menu. “Fine, I’ll save it for the field.”

Alex visibly relaxed, realizing the way she took control of the situation helped. Maybe she could do this captain thing. “Good because I’m starving!”

 

“Look, Leroux is about to burst over there, she so wants to start something…” Kelley pointed out.

“Oh my gosh she looks like a two year old asking for a second ice cream cone or something..” Christen added as she looked over to the table.

“Not tonight guys, I’m so tired of fighting, let’s give it a break for one night...please?” Cheney asked just wanting to go back to the non-soccer related night that was happening before they noticed Alex and co.

“Tobs, you’re being quiet, you ok?” Kelley asked.

“Yeah i’m good, a little weirded out to be honest.”

“Ok spill” Cheney quickly replied knowing when something was seriously bothering her friend.

Tobin kept her voice at a level that she hoped Alex wouldn’t hear “Fine….Well I ran into Alex this morning at this indoor soccer place..we had a few choice words for each other, but then before I leave she just lets out this confession about being captain, and it being hard etc etc. it was almost civil y’know? Weird huh?” Tobin finished still in shock about the interaction.

Before anyone could get a word in the table turned their attention to the quick scuffle of a chair as Sydney purposely got up and walked over to the table.

“Syd!” Kristie called after her, eyes widening.

“Oh my god,” Alex gaped, exchanging a glance with Yael before returning to Syd to see what was about to happen.

“Heard Alex’s name...Talking Shit about her when she’s right next to ya huh? Pretty low if you ask me..”

Kelley scoffed at the forwardness of the girl “Actually no we weren’t.. you can go back to your table now and leave us alone…”

Yael’s eyes widened. “Alex go get her now.”

Alex nodded numbly, getting up from her chair. She did hear her name too, and she knew what Tobin was saying - exactly what she didn’t want the girl to say. She made her way to the booth and grabbed Sydney’s arm gently. “Syd, let’s go.”

Sydney wasn’t going to move. “Alex, I got it.”

“No, you don’t.” Alex said firmly. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

“But Al--”

Alex’s jaw set. “Sydney.”

Sydney hadn’t heard Alex talk like that before. Sure, she had on the field or when she was mad, but this was different. This was almost like her name had become a command. She looked at Alex in surprise, and saw the piercing blue eyes pleading with her. “Fine.” She managed to get out of Alex’s grip, storming back towards their table where Kristie and Yael tried to calm her down with quiet words.

Alex relaxed a little and looked at the girls until her eyes fell on Tobin. “Sorry. Syd’s kind of...eager,” she explained, running a hand through her hair.

Alex’s retrieval and comment left a range of reactions at the table. Kelley and Christen both resorted to shaking their heads, Cheney gave a reassuring ‘It’s not a big deal’, and Tobin just nodded too scared to open her mouth for fear it would just provoke Alex.

It was awkward to say the least but the whole table let out a unified sigh of relief as the girl rejoined her table.

Alex walked back to her table, sort of surprised Tobin didn’t say anything at all. She found her seat again and immediately turned to Sydney. “What the hell was that?” she hissed.

“Al, I couldn’t help it,” Sydney explained. “I heard your name and--”

“My name,” Alex interrupted, her voice low so the other girls couldn’t hear the conversation going on. “Not yours. I can take care of myself, and tonight I don’t want any fights.”

Sydney frowned. “I was just looking out for you.”

Alex sighed, patting her shoulder. “And I’m glad I have you to do that, but choose your fights wisely, okay? This one’s not worth making a big deal out of.”

The waiter arrived to take their orders and Alex rolled back her shoulders, trying to let her worries go. It wasn’t easy when she felt a pair of eyes on her. She didn’t have to look to know who they belonged to, and that kind of scared her. How was that even possible? She didn’t look back, just smlied at the waiter and gave him her order.

Tobin couldn’t help but watch Alex as she ordered her food. It was a new thing for Tobin to see her ‘enemy’ outside of the soccer pitch and it was almost like studying a new species or something of the like. She wondered why Alex stopped her teammate from starting something, or why she felt like almost breaking down in front of her that morning. She shook her head knowing that one day was not going to change anything. As soon as it was time to play against each other, all of the hurtful exchanges would come out, this Tobin was sure of. She was tired of fighting considering she had been doing it for a majority of her soccer life yet she didn’t know any other way to interact with Alex’s school other than outright hating it and everyone associated with it.

 

Just as meals were arriving to Alex’s table, she saw a tall girl walk in. She laughed as the girl searched for them.

“PSSSSST Hope!” Sydney called out like an idiot, causing the girls at the table to laugh as Hope whipped her head to face them.She glared at Sydney for being loud. She quickly made her way over as the girls laughed harder at her glare.

“Got a little lost there, Solo?” Alex asked in between giggles, patting the spot next to her.

“Shut it Morgan,” Hope rolled her eyes, not even realizing who was across from them. “You’re lucky I’m even considering joining you idiots with Leroux over here.”

“Well at least you weren’t here earlier…” Yael said before sipping her drink. Sydney nudged her side.

“What’d she do? Embarass herself? Oh wait...she does it all the time,” Hope smirked, then realized the air had changed at the table. “Wait...what happened?”

“Look across the table,” Kristie murmured.

Hope looked at her strangely, but did as she was told. She immediately recognized Tobin, as well as the other girls from yesterday. She almost fell out of her seat when she saw Kelley. “Shit,” she hissed.

Kelley’s head jerked up as Hope’s name was called out by the Leroux girl.

“Oh great… just what this party needed..” Christen remarked with a roll of the eyes.

“The real captain of the team…” Kelley murmured as she didn’t take her eyes off of her passing girlfriend.

Tobin bit her cheek to keep from commenting. She had gotten herself and her team in enough trouble for one day, she didn’t need things going awry at that diner as well.

Kelley gave a knowing look as Hope turned to face her, but the girl’s reaction was lesser than what she really wanted.

“Yikes Kell, she really must really not like you or something, I think she just mouthed ‘shit’ to you..” Christen stated.

Kelley bit her upper lip as the afternoon lunch with her girlfriend was done with and now she was supposed to go back to hating her for absolutely no reason other than their schools are rivals.

Looking disappointed Kelley turned back to her food as she pushed it around her plate aimlessly.

“You okay Kell?” Tobin asked worried about her freckled friend.

“Yeah, just tired is all..” Kelley said not daring to look over to Hope for the remainder of dinner.

 

Hope saw the look in her girlfriend’s face and immediately felt bad. She turned back around to face her teammates before she got up and walked over there to comfort Kelley. “What did you do?” she asked Sydney.

Sydney shrugged, not meeting her gaze. “I kind of heard them talk about Alex...so I went over to say a few things.”

“When she really should’ve just stayed put,” Alex glared at her.

“Alex had to go and get her,” Kristie filled in.

Hope looked at Alex with approval and then back at Sydney. “This isn’t the time to start anything, Syd.”

“I know...but that freckled girl knows how to talk,” she frowned.

Kelley. Hope tried to remain indifferent at how Sydney was talking about her girlfriend. “Don’t think about this the rest of tonight, got it? We’re here to eat and have fun. Don’t ruin it.”

“I heard it all from Alex already,” Sydney sighed. “Can we not talk about this anymore?”

“Gladly,” Hope nodded. “So, what did you losers order me?” She fought every instinct she had to look at Kelley. Instead she sent her a text.

 

**Sorry babe. Took me by surprise.**

 

Kelley felt her phone buzz and she instinctively knew it was Hope. She opened  the message and found it to be not so comforting. She replied not wanting to sound pathetic.

 

**It’s fine, a secret’s a secret.**

 

She unenthusiastically replied not at all impressed with Hope’s explanation of ‘Took me by surprise’.

 

Hope felt her phone buzz again and made sure none of the girls were watching her before she checked it. She frowned. This wasn’t the Kelley she was used to texting. Her guilt only grew knowing she wasn’t comforting the girl at all.

 

**Meet me in the bathroom in 5.**

 

She sent the text and then looked at the other girls at her table. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick.”

“Okay,” Yael shrugged as the others kept talking.

She stood, careful not to make eye contact with Kelley and went to the bathroom, checking herself in the mirror as she waited for her girlfriend.

 

Kelley looked at at Hope’s message and sighed.

“Be right back” she stated as she got up from the table.

“Is she alright?” Christen whispered to the table as the their freckled friend looked to be headed for the bathroom.

“I dunno” Cheney shrugged “If she’s not back in like 10 one of us should go check on her.” she added equally worried about her friend.

 

Kelley made her way to the sinks where Hope was leaning against the countertop.

When Hope heard the door open and saw her little girlfriend walk in, she looked at her and said, “I’m so sorry.” Hope wasn’t one to apologize over anything. Actually, it took a lot for her to apologize. It was surprising to even her that Kelley made her apologize so easily.

“It’s okay..I get it..I just wish I didn’t” Kelley began. “I wish we could just be like any other couple...where something like this would make me upset but we’re not like any other couple, and although I want to feel upset, I can’t because-because no one can know about us..” Kelley rambled obviously letting out words that had been on her mind for awhile. She didn’t dare look into Hope’s steely blue eyes but she was sure they had rested on her the whole while she was talking.

“Now I’m sorry..” She continued when she realized Hope wasn’t saying anything.

Hope stayed quiet the whole time Kelley spoke. She wanted to listen to everything the girl had to say because she had the right to talk. Hope was the one who suggested the whole thing to begin with, not Kelley. She was asking so much of the girl and was glad she was coming through for Hope and that she was still there. She frowned when Kelley apologized, taking the smaller girl’s hands into her own.

“No. Don’t be sorry. You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Hope stated. “I know I asked a lot from you when I suggested all of this. And it’s so hard to keep this from everyone, especially when all I want to do sometimes is tell people about how my date with my adorable girlfriend went.” Hope managed a little smile. “but we’re both still new at this, and one day we’ll be able to tell people and not care. For right now, I’m just glad you haven’t walked out on me yet, Kelley.” She was amazed at how much she was able to open up when it was just the two of them. Imagining her doing this with anyone else was impossible.

Kelley allowed a grin to grace her face and she pulled her girlfriend closer for a hug. Her head fit perfectly underneath Hope’s chin, and it was all she needed to feel better about their relationship.

“I could never walk out on you” she said as Hope cradled her in her strong arms. The two broke apart fast as they heard the door to the bathroom swing open.

Kelley switched the sink on and pretended to wash her hands as Sydney walked in giving Hope and her the strangest stares.

Hope cleared her throat. “Syd.”

“The hell is taking you so long?” Sydney asked, but her eyes went to Kelley and her body straightened.

“What? I’m done,” Hope shrugged, trying to remain calm.

“Well your food’s getting cold,” Sydney stated matter-of-factly.

The keeper resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Is that why you came to the bathroom?”

“No, I have to pee too,” Sydney shrugged, still not comfortable with Kelley around.

“I’m going out, calm down. Go pee.”

Sydney shook her head and went into a stall, but not without glaring at Kelley first.

Hope closed her eyes and shook her head before walking over to the shorter girl. She kissed Kelley’s forehead softly so it didn’t make a sound. “Sorry about her,” she mouthed, looking down at her girlfriend.

Kelley just nodded in pained understanding, she squeezed Hope’s hand before leaving the bathroom.

She sat back down obviously in a more solemn mood.

“Hey Kell is everything alright?” Tobin asked.

Kelley forced a smile on her face “Yeah yeah! I’m fine!” she said hoping she was was able to convince her friends that everything was indeed okay.

Christen noticed Sydney and Hope walk out of the bathroom and threw her head back coming to sudden realization.

“They didn’t say anything to you? did they?” Christen asked ready to defend her friend if need be.

Kelley turned to where her friend was looking to see her girlfriend and Sydney walking side by side back to their table.

She shook her head “No, nothing happened..really guys, i’m okay!” Kelley insisted.

“Say ‘im okay’ one more time and I really won’t believe you” Cheney said seeing through her friend yet not wanting to prod the discussion anymore.

 

Hope waited for Sydney to finish her business, staring blankly at her nails. She was trying to calm herself down. S _ydney doesn’t suspect anything_ , she thought to herself firmly. _You have to be more careful. At least no one saw it._

“Why are you still here?” Sydney asked, bumping Hope playfully aside so she can wash her hands.

The taller girl managed a smile. “I’m a nice person sometimes.”

Sydney rolled her eyes, but a grin was on her face. “Right. Okay Solo.” She washed her hands and a moment of silence passed between them until Sydney grabbed a paper towel and said. “I don’t really like that short girl very much.”

Immediately, Hope jumped to Kelley’s defense, but attempted to play it cool. “She’s not worth hating, Syd. Let it go.”

“Fine,” Sydney groaned.

“Why are you so eager to start something, anyway?”

Sydney shrugged. “Settle things for once.”

Hope rolled her eyes. “Whatever, come on, let’s go back out to dinner.”


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This rivalry's getting old and stressful. Nothing a party can't fix, right?

Tobin parked her car across from a green jeep not knowing that the owner was actually Alex. She let out a sigh as she walked into the local sports store. She hated shopping, but she figured she should get some new indoor soccer shoes since finding the indoor gym. She didn’t even think about where she was headed since she knew the store’s layout like the back of her hand. She scanned the rows and rows of shoes of varying style and size. She made her way over to the section she needed and immediately spotted the two shoes she was most interested in. She grabbed them down from the shelf and began to inspect both. There were advantages to either but she couldn’t decide which would be better for her. She tried one on her right foot and the other on her left foot. She began to walk down the aisle to get a feel for them but stopped in her tracks as the raspy voice she had grown to hate filled her ears.

“Indoor soccer shoe shopping I see?” The rival striker piped up. She’d been watching the girl for the past few minutes and was pretty impressed on the shoes Tobin had narrowed her options down to. She’d been there to visit a friend on her work shift, but when she noticed Tobin walking in, she couldn’t help herself. She wasn’t in the mood to argue with Tobin anymore. She hadn’t been since the indoor soccer gym. She looked at Tobin curiously, wondering what was going through her mind.

Shocked that Alex hadn’t taken a jab at her, Tobin just stared at the girl until she finally said

“Yeah...any suggestions?” even surprising herself.

Alex quirked an eyebrow at her. It’d be a lie to say she wasn’t surprised that Tobin hadn’t given her a snarky remark in return. She shrugged, slowly walking over to her. “Well, I mean they’re both pretty good choices - both as cleats and indoors as well,” she began, looking down at the two different options at Tobin’s feet. “That one,” she said, pointing at the one on her right foot. “Is great for speed and definitely lighter. It literally feels like you don’t even have a shoe on.” Then she pointed to the one on Tobin’s left. “This one gives you better ball control. It’s not as light as the others, but still pretty lightweight anyway.” She chewed her bottom lip, trying to figure out which one Tobin would benefit from more. She’d seen the girl play multiple times, and at this point knew how she liked to handle the ball. “Personally, I think you’d be better off with those,” she pointed to the ones on her left again. “Because you like doing those tricks all over the field, so you definitely need a shoe that helps with ball control.”

Tobin took a moment to take in all the information she just received. It was the most that Alex had ever spoken to her in a civil manner. It honestly made her uncomfortable, especially the last part in which Alex seemed to suggest that she knew Tobin so well that she knew which shoe would suit her best.

She let out a small ‘huh’ as she shifted her weight from left to right still testing both.

She decided she liked the ones on the left better, the shoe that Alex suggested, but she didn’t want to the girl to know she had done her a favor of any sort.

“Eh i’m definitely feeling the one on my right foot” she said confidently as if it was the most obvious fit. “Thanks though” She added half heartedly not even bothering to look Alex in the eyes.

“Okay…” Alex said. “If you say so.” She knew for a fact the one on Tobin’s left would benefit her more, but she bit her tongue. If Tobin didn’t want her help then so be it. “I guess I’ll see you around Heath,” she sighed, then left the midfielder to her shoe shopping.

Tobin heard the tension in Alex’s voice but decided that ignoring her and not saying anything was best. She was thankful for the advice but she didn’t know how to express that to a girl she supposedly hated and was supposed to hate.

She sat back down to take off both shoes, she untied the laces slowly until she saw Alex walk away from the shoe department. She found the original box for the shoes Alex suggested and put the left boot in it with the right. She carefully looked around the store as she made her way to the checkout.

“Oh nice choice!” the store clerk said as she rung Tobin up.

“Oh thanks” Tobin said softly as if someone like Alex would hear her and know that she actually bought the shoes she suggested.

Tobin walked out of the store feeling weirder than ever.

 _Why is she being nice to me?_ she thought as she started her car.

 

Alex found herself at the indoor gym that same afternoon. Servando wasn’t on shift so this time she could actually focus, and she hadn’t seen Tobin around so that was another distraction she didn’t have to worry about. The conversation with Tobin that morning had bothered her. She knew she was supposed to hate the girl but why? _Why_ did she have to hate someone who she knew pretty well on the field, but was a complete and total stranger off of it? There was a reason the rivalry existed, but how long until a rivalry wore out? She began to juggle the ball as the thoughts filled her mind.

Once the ball dropped to the ground as she looked up as someone passing by. The reason she did was because she noticed the boots they were wearing. They were the same type she was trying to tell Tobin to get that morning. _Weird coincidence_ , she thought before looking up to see who they belonged to. She was in utter shock to find that it was actually Tobin wearing those boots. See, I was right she thought to herself before calling out, “Nice indoors!”

 

Tobin decided that the chances of seeing Alex again at the gym were slim so she took the chance to go try out her new shoes. As soon as her feet touched the ball she knew that she, and well, Alex, had made the right decision. She was enjoying the lightness in her feet until she heard that voice again. This time a little more snark making it’s way in the tone of her voice.

She instantly turned a little red at the comment, knowing that Alex obviously knew that she had chosen the ones she suggested. Tobin swallowed hard, her pride and her embarrassment going down with it.

“I bought them both, to try out...read some reviews, said they were both worth a shot.” Tobin said trying to play it cool.

This received a skeptical look from Alex. “Right….” she drawed out, not very convinced at all. She had to hide the smirk on her face because she was pretty sure Tobin wasn’t some idiot who decided to buy both when she wanted only one pair.

In any normal situation Tobin would have taken Alex’s comment as a sarcastic yet playful comment but knowing the girl’s hatred for her she took it as a very snippy one instead.

She returned the favor with what she thought was an equally ‘smart-ass’ reply “You think I bought these because of you don’t you?” she said with a mocking laugh. “Well you got another thing coming..” she said with another scoff.

If Alex was taken aback by Tobin’s sudden snarkiness, it didn’t show at all. Instead she replied, “That’s funny, Heath. You’re just mad because I’m right. You hate me so much you can’t even admit that you bought them because they were obviously the better option for you.” She raised an eyebrow accusingly at her, crossing her arms.

Tobin was growing increasingly mad. Mad at Alex for being right, and mad at herself for not being able to admit it. She knew how stupid it would be to try and convince Alex that she didn’t have anything to do with her buying those certain shoes so she tried something else.

“You know...I am mad because you’re right, I’m mad because I can’t admit you’re right, and you know something else? I really don’t like you, and I could honestly care less that i’m wearing these shoes, the ones you thought I should buy. Just leave me alone already” Tobin spat unsure of how much she actually just hurt the girl’s feelings. She cared but she didn’t care enough to not say it.

As Tobin unleashed her words, Alex just stared at her for a moment, contemplating what she was saying. Finally when Tobin was done, she just sighed as if she was exhausted. “Why are we doing this Tobin?”

Tobin clenched her jaw as she started to walk away from the girl. She turned to look at her as her response finally reached her ears. She peered at the girl’s light blue eyes that had a genuine look of ‘why?’ written all over them.  She shook her head “I don’t get you” she said with a hard look and an even sterner voice.

Alex’s eyes and voice didn’t waver at all as Tobin still showed hostility towards her. “And I don’t get you. Look Tobin, we’re rivals by default. We’ve learned to hate each other from everyone who took us in when we made varsity. But really, what reason do I have to hate you besides the fact that you go to my rival school and you’re actually really good at soccer?” She undid her ponytail, then started doing it again. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Tobin was really thrown off at the casualness of Alex. It was as if her words filled with hate and dislike had no effect on the girl anymore. She just seemed tired and Tobin had no idea how to react.

“It’s not like we can be anything more than rivals .. we’re the captains of two teams whose rivalry goes back before either of us were even alive. We have a duty on and off the field..the sooner you get that, the better it’ll be” Tobin stated confidently yet was really unsure of it all. Alex was right yet again.. but Tobin wasn’t so willing to accept that fact. She had to be careful she figured as she looked at the girl. _It could all be a trick_  she thought to herself as she wouldn’t let her guard down at all in front of Alex, not now anyways.

Tobin did have a point. Alex could admit that much. And she could also sense Tobin’s walls surrounding her. It was indeed strange that they were still even talking in normal voices when it should’ve been screaming and fighting. The only thing she could think of to say was, “What if it isn’t better? Look me in the eye and tell me honestly that you’re not tired of this. You’re not tired of having to see each other in public and tense up. Or to already be angry before the game because we already know who’s on that field.? Are you sure you’re okay with doing this for the rest of our high school lives?”

Tobin took Alex’s words in but she didn’t want to. Years of being forced and taught to hate the girl and her school were causing her to tense up and block out what she was saying. It was sad for it was everything that Alex was saying. It was true, Tobin was exhausted. She couldn’t bring herself to admit it though.

“I-” She took a long pause before finishing “What do you want from me Alex? Really? Tell me now so you can stop bullshitting me.” she said wanting to end the conversation.

Alex groaned at Tobin’s response. “This is exactly what I’m talking about Tobin! We can’t even talk about this being over without one of us thinking there’s a punchline! There’s no damn catch. I just want this to be over. I’m not saying that we have to be best friends and make our team do the same. I’m just saying that we should just stop being such bitches to each other because of this rivalry we’ve grown up with. We’re both tired of it and you know it. All I want is to be able to see you and not have to think ‘wow I hate her and her team’.” She was starting to give up hope that Tobin would ever listen to her. The rivalry had been going on too long and she wasn’t in it to waste energy hating someone she could probably get along with if given the chance. “I’m just asking for both of us to stop fighting. Whatever happened that first day we ran into each other was something I actually liked. We weren’t hostile or rude. We were just...talking.”

Tobin wished she didn’t but she couldn’t help but think Alex had ulterior motives of some sort. _She must, right?_ she thought as she tried to think of something to say.

“Alex...just stop..you don’t even know me. And you want ‘this’ to be over? What is ‘this’ anyways? All i’ve ever known is this damn rivalry..” She said feeling almost out of breath.

“This!” Alex cried, motioning between her and Tobin. “I don’t even know you and I’m supposed to hate you? Call me crazy, but I think that’s just a bit fucked up. We’ve said things to each other that we’ve never said to actual people we have a reason to hate because it’s what we’re built on. You just said so yourself: this rivalry is all you’ve ever known. Don’t you want to know something else besides it?” She was frustrated that Tobin couldn’t see it the way she did. What was the point anymore? If that first encounter showed a glimpse of something, why not actually do something about it? There were things she’d said to Tobin over the past few years that she hadn’t even said to a person she had a valid reason to hate. She knew nothing about this girl except that she could play soccer. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t want to know more about the midfielder.

Alex’s words hit Tobin hard and deeply. The girl felt an overwhelming sense of emotion overcome her and without any control she felt tears start to well up in her eyes. She didn’t want to hate Alex or anyone for that matter. Tobin thought hating Alex was something that everyone expected of her but in actuality no one ever told her to hate the girl, no one ever pushed her to look down on the rival captain. It was something she had grown around and the simple excuse of ‘I didn’t know any better’ wasn’t enough anymore. Tobin turned away from Alex because she was embarrassed and now was not the time to look weak or broken. “I-I’m sorry” was all she could muster to say.

The striker had sucked in her breath, expecting Tobin to spit venom words at her once again, but when nothing came she was confused. Tobin turned away from her and Alex’s eyebrows furrowed together, her mind wondering what was going through the other girl’s. When she heard the crack in her voice, Alex’s features immediately softened. It was a sincere apology - both of them knew it. Alex bit her lip for a second, hesitating. After a quick internal debate, she walked over to Tobin, pulling her into a gentle embrace. It was awkward, but it was what the girl needed at the moment. “I’m sorry too,” she whispered.

She meant it. She was sorry for everything between them because there was really no reason for any of it to happen. She was done playing games or living up to standards she believed were there. It was time to set a new bar now.

Tobin let out an inaudible gasp as she felt Alex’s loose yet strong hold around her. She didn’t know what to think or feel anymore. She didn’t resist the girl, it was in fact a hug much needed. She just didn’t know how much she needed it until it actually happened. She heard Alex’s apology which came out quietly but the weight of it was more like a shout or a roar. Tobin gently pulled away from Alex’s embrace. She looked at the girl through tear stained eyes confused and knowingly. “I gotta go” she stated quietly as she turned to run towards the exit.

Alex wasn’t sure what to do when she saw tears on Tobin’s cheeks. She never thought she’d see the day her supposed rival was in tears for something other than losing. Before she could think of anything else to say, Tobin pulled away and excused herself. “Tobin,” she called out. The girl didn’t stop, but she kept talking anyway. “I’m here if you need anything.”

 

Alex’s words still hadn’t left Tobin as she laced up for practice the next day.

“Yo Tobs nice cleats!” Kelley said as she sat down next to her as she admired the new boots.

“Ah thanks, got them yesterday” Tobin said clearly distracted.

“What’s up with you?” Kelley asked obviously noticing the strange mood her captain was in.

Tobin thought about it for a moment before saying “I’m just tired, exhausted really..”

It was true, Tobin was tired. She was tired of hating Alex. She was tired of the rivalry but she wasn’t ready to let everyone know that just yet.

Before Kelley could respond to Tobin’s weirdness, Ashlyn burst through the locker room door.

“Oh my god! I’ve had it up to here with those freakin jerks!” Ashlyn said fuming as she sat down in front of her locker.

“What happened?” Tobin asked sure she knew the reason for the fit but figured she would ask anyways.

“I was at the mall the other day and I ran into Pinoe, ya know the girl with the hair....all I was doing was being friendly to her! That fricken Leroux chick butted in….I almost got into fist fight with her for crying out loud!” Ashlyn heatedly shouted.

“Alright Ash slow down, slow down.” Lauren calmly said as she patted her friend’s back.

“I’m so done with them…” Ashlyn said shaking her head. “Apparently I can’t be friends with one of them without the whole lot hating me even more”

Tobin simply nodded as she realized that if anyone knew about her and Alex’s recent interactions it would either make things better or much worse.

Kelley could feel her heart beat grow faster as she listened to Ashlyn’s words. She was so sure of her relationship with Hope but she wasn’t so sure if it would have a happy ending. She felt bad knowing that she was with someone that most all of her friends and teammates most likely hated. She let out her laces to re-tie them in order to focus on anything but Hope and how she shouldn’t be with her.

 

When Kelley suggested they go to a party, Hope was hesitant. When she continued on saying that no one from either of their schools should be there, Hope agreed. What Hope wasn’t expecting was to end up bringing someone along with her and for that someone to be Alex of all people.

She had been on the way to her car when she saw the young striker walking out of the building, head low and mind somewhere completely different. It was strange, seeing Alex so lost. No one could tell exactly what was bothering her, but it had something to do with being captain and things heating up between rivals. Hope decided to attempt to console her.

“Hey Al, what’s on your mind?” she asked.

Alex looked up and mustered a very small smile. “Just...stress from school and stuff, you know.”

“That bad?” Hope frowned.

“Yeah,” the younger girl let out a long sigh.

“Hey, I’m going to a party tonight, you should come,” the keeper blurted out before she could stop herself. She began to panic internally. _God dammit Hope! Tonight’s supposed to be you and Kelley._

“What party?” Alex asked curiously.

Knowing it was too late to back out, Hope slowly continued. “Uh, it’s some masquerade party. No one from school should be there, so it would help you get your mind off of things.”

For the first time that day, Alex gave a genuine smile and her eyes lit up just a little. “Sure!”

Hope stopped herself from cringing at the answer. To see Alex actually be focused on the present and be excited about it was certainly better than whatever was going through her mind. “I’ll come pick you up at seven?”

“Perfect!” Alex clapped her hands before pulling Hope into a hug. She was one of the few people who could get away with it. “Bye Hope!” she called before dashing into the parking lot.

“Bye,” Hope muttered, trying to figure out what just happened.

So now there they were, masks on and music pumping. _You’ll be fine,_ Hope told herself. _Everyone’s wearing masks and there’s so many people. She’s not going to see you disappear, and even if you do, she’ll just think you’re drunk and making out with someone for the hell of it._ She led them to the bar, immediately ordering two drinks.

 

Kelley couldn’t contain her excitement all practice as the night drew nearer. She had been looking forward to this masquerade party for weeks now and the fact that it would just be her and Hope made her even more excited. The girl noticed her best friend and captain acting quite strange ,even for her. She seemed distracted and maybe even a little sad but Kelley refused to let Tobin’s weird mood disrupt her high.

As practice ended Kelley rushed into the locker room to quickly change and get home but her best friend’s voice stopped her.

“Hey Kell, What are you up to tonight?” Tobin asked rather quietly.

“Uhhhh..” The girl stumbled to find words in the moment “I’ve got this thing to go to tonight..” She said as she rubbed her neck “What about you?”

“Ah nothing, I need to get my mind somewhere else, I was hoping we could go see a movie or something” Tobin said sounding more and more defeated with each word.

Kelley rubbed her neck even harder, sure she was leaving it coarse and red. She loved her best friend and hated seeing her so weird but she also told herself tonight was all about her and Hope.

_C’mon Kelley.. You and Hope..You and Hope she said to herself  as she looked at the girl._

“Wanna go to this masquerade party tonight with me?” She said hurriedly hoping if she got it out fast enough it wouldn’t leave too much regret.

_Damn Kelley..so much for just you and Hope…_

Tobin seemed to light up a bit at the invitation eliciting a small smirk giving Kelley confidence and reassurance that she made the right decision.

“Alright I actually have an extra mask for ya, so I’ll come to your house at like 6: 30, kay?” Kelley stated with a pat on her friend’s back.

 

Hope hung around Alex long enough for her to down her second drink. She tried to keep conversation light, but her eyes were all over the place as she tried to find Kelley. She knew it would be wrong to leave Alex completely alone, but she also knew Alex was by no means anti-social. She watched Alex go for her third drink, a buzz definitely beginning to kick into the younger girl before she make her escape.

“Hey Al, why don’t you talk to people around here?” she suggested, taking a sip of her own drink. “I’ll be back. Just don’t get lost.”

Alex gave her a mock salute, her eyes bright. “Sure Hope, go have fun.”

She laughed, patting Alex’s shoulder. “Thanks,” she nodded. “You too.” She made a mental note of Alex’s dress so if she needed to find her or saw her when she was with Kelley she could be sure it was Alex. She offered one last smile as she disappeared into the sea of bodies trying to find her small defender.

“Damn Tobs, you look great!” Kelley said as she took a full view of her best friend as they parked the car in the parking lot.

“Hah thanks Kell, you clean up well too squirrelly!” Tobin replied.

The two walked into the party both unsure of how the night was going to play out. Kelley immediately began to scan the crowd of people for Hope. Tobin made a point of going directly to the bar area to order herself a drink. Kelley followed slowly as she whipped her head right and left looking for her goalkeeper girlfriend.

 

Fifteen minutes later and Tobin was on her second drink already visibly tipsy.

Kelley just laughed at her friend “Tobs, you’re such a lightweight, it’s hilarious!”

“Am not!” Tobin exclaimed as she gulped down some more of the margherita she was sipping on.

“Dude how did you know about this party? It’s pretty swanky!” Tobin carelessly let out as she turned to look at the dancefloor full of people.

“I have my ways.” Kelley stated as she finally spotted Hope walking on the outside of the crowd.

“Hey Tobs, Will you be good for a little? I’m just going to go find the bathroom” Kelley said not even finishing the sentence as she began to walk away. Remembering her best friend duties she turned around “Don’t wander too far ok? I’ll be back!”

Tobin nodded sure that Kelley must have eyed some hot piece of ass and was going after it. She knew her best friend all too well, even if Tobin was already a little drunk.

“Don’t worry , I’ll be fine!” She shouted over the loud music blaring.

Tobin turned back to the bar where she ordered another drink as she realized her second one was already drunk.

She sighed heavily “What am I even doing here?” she said aloud sure no one was listening.

Her third drink came and with it out of the corner of her eye was an approaching figure. She was sure the person wasn’t trying to talk to her but when she realized the girl wasn’t leaving she turned to see her in a daze.

“I just said the same thing” the mysterious girl said as she clinked her glass with Tobin’s. Tobin could barely get a good glimpse of her in the darkness of the room and her voice was distorted amongst the mix of the booze in her system and the obnoxiously loud music. There was something alluring about her though. Tobin couldn’t deny that.

Despite Hope’s suggestions, Alex hadn’t been able to bring herself to talk to anyone. That was until she saw someone on the other side of the bar. She couldn’t really get a good look at her, but there was something about her that drew Alex over. Once Alex found herself next to her, she realized just how great of a body this girl had.

“So what brings you here tonight?” she asked, taking another sip of her drink.

Even through the darkness Tobin could tell the girl had amazing eyes, she was sure she was blushing but thanked the dim lighting for covering that up. “Keeping a friend company, what about you?”

There was something about her voice that caused Alex to be even more drawn to. It was cool and collected, but there was something else. The music and other noises of the party were in the way of Alex understanding what it was that had her captivated, and maybe even the alcohol she’d had. “Same. But since I’m already here, I might as well try to forget some things,” she shrugged.

“Cheers to that!” Tobin said clinking her drink again with the girl’s.

Tobin couldn’t tell how old the girl was but she guessed that she wasn’t old enough to be drinking legally but wasn’t younger than her.

“So what kind of things are you trying to forget about?” She asked genuinely curious.

Alex shrugged, downing the rest of her drink in one go. “Stupid things, really.” Though she was on her way to getting very drunk, she wasn’t sharing everything all at once.

Two drinks later and it was safe to say that both of them were more than just a little tipsy. Alex found herself getting lost in pointless conversation with the girl. It was easy to forget with her. The girl had her laughing. There was still something almost familiar about her, but it had gone to the back of Alex’s mind. Instead she found herself noticing how...well, hot the other girl was, even with the mask.

As their latest conversation died down, Alex put down her latest drink and grabbed the girl’s hand. She felt immediate warmth. “Come dance with me,” Alex suggested, biting her bottom lip.

 

Tobin had just finished laughing a little too hard from what was probably a joke that wasn’t as funny as either would think if they were sober when she felt a hand grip her own. She looked down dizzily as the girl’s hand  whose company she had been enjoying for the past few drinks began to pull her up. She felt a chill go through her system with the touch. She watched the girl’s mouth as she said ‘Come dance with me’ and all she could think was how much she wanted to grab her and kiss her right then and there. She nodded as she grabbed ahold of her hand a little tighter as she let her guide her. She almost fell over upon standing up but the girl thankfully was there.

Tobin couldn’t help but laugh at her clumsiness “Thanks for catching me” she said as she regained her balance.

Alex laughed with her and even as the girl stood upright, her other hand was still very much holding her waist. “No problem,” she slurred. She didn’t let go of her as they became surrounded by other people who were dancing too. Now both of Alex’s hands held onto the girl’s waist and tugged her a little closer. There was hunger in her eyes and she began to lose herself in the music.

Tobin began to feel her whole body go numb as she swayed to the music. She suddenly felt everything as the girl’s hands found her waist and pulled her closer to her. Overwhelmed with the moment she found the girl’s lips. Afraid that she went too far she immediately pulled away ready to run.

As soon as the girl’s lips met hers, Alex was initially taken by shock. It wasn’t until the last second she realized that was what she’d wanted since she found the girl earlier that night. When the girl pulled away, she met her eyes to see a little bit of fear and regret in her eyes. When the girl made a move to leave, Alex’s hands tugged her close again.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” she mumbled in her ear before pressing her lips against hers again.

All of Tobin’s initial fear and hesitation dissolved as well as the rest of her inhibitions with the girl’s comment. Before she could kiss her again, the girl already pressed her lips against hers causing a wave of feeling to flow over her numb body.

 

Hope was busy the better part of the night with Kelley pressed up against her. Alex had been long forgotten and all she could think about was the girl she was with. Finally they found themselves at the bar, Kelley sitting on Hope’s lap as the taller girl left kisses on her exposed shoulder. “I wish we could always do this,” she mumbled on Kelley’s skin, doubtful the other girl could even hear her because of the noise.

“I know, me too” Kelley replied planting a kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek.

“Oh!” Kelley exclaimed as she jumped off Hope’s lap as she eyed what looked like her best friend sucking face with some other girl in the middle of the crowded dancefloor.

A confused expression found Hope’s face. “What? What’s wrong babe?”

“Uhhh...Promise me you won’t be mad” Kelley said as she took one long look confirming it was Tobin before turning to her worried girlfriend.

Hope quirked an eyebrow. “Kel, what did you do?”

Kelley sighed and took a deep breath before continuing “Tobin was in a odd mood after practice today…..so I kinda….invited her to come tonight.” Before she could let Hope say anything she continued “I know tonight was supposed to be about you and me, but I don’t know if you saw her earlier you couldn’t say no...I-just..I’m sorry babe” Kelley finished sounding defeated.

The keeper listened to her girlfriend, and as she continued to explain, Hope began to feel even more guilty about Alex. “Actually Kel, there’s something I have to tell you…”

Kelley looked up to her girlfriend expecting to get the ‘look’ but was surprised that Hope had a confession of her own. She looked at her questioningly urging her to continue.

Hope sighed. “I kind of brought Alex tonight, too. She’s just been weird all week and I couldn’t help but try to make her feel better. But I haven’t seen her all night since I left to find you,” she explained, shrugging a little.

Kelley let out a sigh in relief “Well I’ve been a little busy focusing on a different set of blue eyes...I haven’t seen her all night either...but I just found Tobin” Kelley said with a laugh as she pointed to Tobin who was still kissing the random girl in the crowd.

Hope let out a small laugh at Kelley’s subtle comment. She followed Kelley’s finger to see Tobin making out with someone, but then her smile faltered. She knew that dress; it was the one she told herself not to forget. “Um...Kelley?”

“I know right, so weird seeing Tobin making out with...um what?” Kelley began thinking she knew exactly what Hope was going to say but was taken aback by the girl’s furrowed brow.

“That’s Alex,” she said, giving the two a hard stare in attempts to keep herself from gaping.

“No it’- HOLY SHIT” Kelley said as she took a closer look at the girl on the receiving end of Tobin’s kiss. Kelley’s jaw dropped on the floor “I-I DO YOU THINK THEY KNOW?!” She stammered out in shock.

Hope was obviously the better one at keeping her emotions in check and not all over the place. “I don’t know,” she frowned, feeling just as shocked as Kelley. “I doubt it, but they’re about to find out…”

As the two continued to stare in shock, an announcement was made to take off their masks. It was midnight.

 

Alex was completely lost in everything that involved the girl in front of her. Once the announcement was made, she slowly pulled away, dizzy from everything that just happened. “Damn…” she mumbled, staring at the warm eyes that made her melt.

“Whoa” was all Tobin could let out as the girl pulled away from her. She tugged her a little closer still hoping to continue until the girl playfully pushed her away with instruction that they had to take their masks off and reveal themselves.

“Come on,” Alex giggled, not giving into her. “Let’s take them off at the same time, okay?”

Tobin couldn’t take her eyes off the girl’s set of blue but she nodded as she started to countdown in a slurred blur “3…...2….”

“One,” Alex finished for her, licking her lips in excitement.

They both lifted their masks, and after a few moments they let out an inaudible gasp.

“Oh my god.”


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making out with the enemy...well shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go lovelies! Sorry for the wait. Kate's wifi should be fixed in a couple of days and hopefully we'll be back to our usual writing flow. Thank you for hanging in there and being patient with us. :)

Tobin suddenly felt everything in her body and it wasn’t because of a pair of eyes, it wasn’t because of a kiss...it was because it was Alex Morgan standing in front of her. She wished more than anything she could take back those three seconds. She felt her stomach drop as she stared into Alex’s blue eyes that just seconds before she was getting lost in and now all she felt was fear and regret.

“T-Tobin?” Alex began.

“Oh my god” was all Tobin could reply before pushing her way through the crowd away from Alex and the wonderful night she was having up until that point.

She was scared that she enjoyed kissing Alex. She couldn’t deny the things she felt that night yet she knew there was no conceivable future with her ever and that made everything that much more frightening.

 _How could you let it get this far Tobin?_ she asked herself as she found the outside air fresh and cooling.

 _It was the alcohol...you’re too drunk right now…_ she reasoned with herself as she tried to find Kelley’s car amongst the hundreds.

 

Hope watched along with Kelley throughout the whole thing. When Tobin ran off, she sighed. “I think that’s our cue.”

“Should we keep this a secret between us?” Kelley asked already knowing the answer as she reluctantly let go of Hope’s hand.

Hope’s lips twisted as she thought for a moment. “For now I think that’s best.” She leaned down and pecked Kelley’s lips. “I’ll text you. Go find Tobin, she’s just as equally freaked out as Alex right now.”

 

Kelley rushed to her car knowing that’s exactly where her best friend fled to.

She opened the door to find Tobin sitting, silent, and staring intently at nothing.

“Tobs? What happened? Are you okay?!” Kelley rushed out unsure how her friend was.

Tobin shook her head in disbelief, still not letting a word out.

“How could you let me get that drunk Kell? I mean Alex Morgan?!” Tobin declared in a frenzy.

“Whoa Whoa partner hold up…” Kelley replied not liking Tobin’s accusatory tone.

“I kissed...no MADE OUT with Alex Morgan!” Tobin yelled as if Kelley couldn’t hear her.

Kelley pretended to act like she didn’t already know this fact but couldn’t help but laugh a little at her friend’s drunken overreaction.

“It’s not funny! It’s Alex Morgan!” Tobin repeated as if spitting out the girl’s name would be enough to make her forget her lingering taste in her mouth.

“Dude chill okay? You were drunk, I’m sure she was drunk. Next time you see her, just make some snarky comment and move on with it..it’ll be like nothing ever happened.”

“I wish it were that easy” Tobin sighed before continuing “You can’t tell anyone about this! Okay squirrel?!”

“Got it but uh one question….who was it that you kissed again?” Kelley asked mockingly.

“I swear….if you weren’t my best friend, and the person driving me home...I would kill you right here, right now” Tobin muttered.

Kelley just looked at the girl with a smirk knowing full well that Tobin wasn’t capable of hurting a fly let alone a person.

The two drove in silence for awhile until Tobin started up again.

“I mean what are the chances of me kissing Alex? Of all people?”

“I dunno, just sleep on it” Kelley said with a reassuring pat on her friend’s shoulder. She pulled out her phone to text Hope before she pulled out of Tobin’s driveway.

 

**Tobin’s home safe and sound and freaking the fuck out…..how’s your end?**

 

As soon as Kelley left, Hope made her way to Alex, maneuvering around people to get to the striker. As she grew closer, she noticed the girl’s face was pale and her jaw was hanging open. Hope hid a smirk at the sight. “Hey Al? I think it’s time we head home.”

Alex only offered a nod and a weak, “Y-Yeah…”

Knowing the girl wouldn’t be able to move due to shock, Hope placed her hand on Alex’s back and guided her out of the party and to the parking lot, where silence finally found the both of them. Neither spoke a word as Alex was still in shock and Hope was trying not to make a teasing comment about what just happened.

As Alex buckled her seat belt, Hope decided it was time to speak. “Do you want to tell me how drunk you are or do you want to talk about why you’re so shocked?”

It took a moment for Alex to reply. “I...too much. I drank too much.”

Hope nodded slowly, still not starting the engine. “Okay...and now why do you look like you just saw a ghost or something?”

Alex shook her head, looking out her window. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Alex...come on.”

“It’s so embarrassing.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Hope offered, and she meant it. Alex wasn’t the only one kissing their rival. “Who was the girl I saw you with?” she asked carefully, reminding herself that she had to pretend she had no idea what was going on.

Alex cringed at the reference of the event. “Um..”

“Alex Morgan, tell me right now or I swear to God-”

“It was Heath,” Alex spat out, the name still sour in her mouth although her lips were still on fire.

“What?” Hope faked surprised.

The striker nodded, looking like she was about to cry. “It was Tobin Heath. I didn’t...I didn’t know it was her, Hope. I just saw her and we started talking and then we were dancing and the next thing I know we’re making out and then we take off our masks and it’s her and..” she trailed off, her rant wearing her breath out.

“Alex, breathe. You’re so wasted right now. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you so wasted,” Hope chuckled, starting the engine. “More than likely, she was wasted past her limit too. If you see her again, just say something you’d usually say to her and she’ll do the same and it’ll be okay.”

“But Hope…” Alex croaked out as they left the parking lot.

“What?”

“I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Hope rolled her eyes. “Of course you can’t. It just happened and you’re still drunk. It’ll be okay Alex, I promise.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded, desperately needing to believe Hope’s words. “Can we keep this between us? The team would freak.”

“Of course kid,” Hope confirmed. They drove the rest of the way to Alex’s house in silence.

Once Alex stumbled into her house, Hope checked her messages and sighed, typing back a reply.

 

**Al’s pretty much about the same. Promised her that it’d blow over soon.**

 

Monday afternoon Alex found herself lacing her cleats up in her locker room. Game day rituals were finishing around her as she adjusted the pre-wrap on her hair. After the tie against their rivals, they needed to win the games following it to stay on top. The team needed to be focused, Alex included, but there was one thing clouding Alex’s mind; Tobin Heath. She couldn’t forget the way they effortlessly held a conversation for hours, or the way it felt so right to hold Tobin while they danced or the way Tobin’s lips felt against her own. It disgusted and frightened her how she could think of Tobin, her rival, like that. She was counting on Hope to be right, but so far it hadn’t blown over.

“Hey,” Hope said, sitting next to Alex. She’d checked on her the following day and made sure Alex’s hangover wasn’t killing her, but besides that they hadn’t talked about that night much. “You ready?”

Alex let out a shaky breath, nodding. “We’ve got this.”

“How are you?” Hope asked, and the two knew it was more than just a casual question.

“Still shaking it off,” Alex admitted.

“It’s okay Alex. It’s over and it’s game time. We need a goal or two from you today.”

The striker offered a weak smile. “And some saves from you.”

“If we’re lucky I won’t be making any saves,” Hope joked, nudging her shoulder. “Come on, Captain. Let’s win this.”

Coach called them in for last minute tactics and the two stood, joining their team.

 

The game started easy enough. The team was finding their rhythm easily with passing mainly in their offensive third. Ten minutes in, Sydney found the back of the net giving them a 1-0 lead. As the game went on, their opponents begun to step out, making it harder for the girls to connect passes closer to the goal. Alex’s touches were off completely; her tackles were either too early or too late and her shots weren’t where they were supposed to be. No matter how hard she tried to focus on the game, there was one thing on her mind and it needed to get out of there fast.

When the half time whistle blew, Sydney was the first on Alex’s case. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked, jogging over to join Alex’s side.

“I don’t know,” Alex shrugged, still confused on how she’d been so distracted during the game.

Pinoe joined them on Alex’s other side. “Yeah Alex, where’s our baby horse?”

“She’s here,” Alex promised.

“Well she needs to wake up,” Sydney said. “If Captain’s game is off, everyone’s game is off.”

Alex sighed, the reminder of being captain weighing heavily on her shoulders once again. “I know, I know. I’ll be better second half.” Her eyes met Hope’s before she entered the locker room, and with one glance they knew Alex needed to clean up her act.

 

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Alex grew frustrated with the way she was playing. This wasn’t her top performance she, along with everyone on her team, knew it. Sydney had the ball and was going towards the endline, but lost her control as a defender came in and swept the ball away from her. Alex went in for the tackle and was successful. She began to dribble, looking up for an opportunity to shoot it, but she was denied as another defender took the ball away. Knowing she should’ve shot as soon as she had the ball, Alex sprinted after the defender and went in for the slide tackle, but was too late as the ball had already left the defenders feet.

 _Shit_ was the only thing running through Alex’s mind.

The whistle blew after the defender’s body hit the ground. Alex struggled to get up as the referee held up a yellow card in front of her. She tried her best not to roll her eyes as she limped away.

“Alex, what was that?” Yael asked. “That was a really hard tackle.”

“I thought I could get it,” Alex explained, frustration evident in her voice. “Should’ve shot sooner,” she muttered.

Two minutes later, Alex was subbed out.

“Morgan,” her coach said, scolding her. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, but you need to fix it or else you’re not playing next game. A yellow card, really?”

Alex hung her head, unsure of what else to do. She joined her other teammates on the bed and watched the game, trying to shake off the feeling of Friday night.

 

Tobin looked around her huddled group of teammates. It had been four days since the party and she still couldn’t shake the feeling of Alex’s lips on hers. She wished the idea of doing it again wasn’t such a sobering thought. She knew she had to be one hundred percent fro the game, her team deserved that much.

“Alright guys, we got this, ‘Team’ on three!”

As she broke from the huddle and took her place on the field she managed to find Kelley’s worried eyes. Tobin gave a quick thumbs up to the girl suggesting she was ready and focused.

 _Oh God_ Kelley thought as she could see the distraction etched all over her captain’s face.

The game started off fast causing Tobin to exhaust much quicker than usual. That and the fact that her head was somewhere other than the game. One mistake after another and Tobin finally and carelessly let the ball slide to the other team’s feet in a bad pass.  The girl swiftly carried the ball up the left side and crossed it over to one of her teammates who managed to head it into the net. Tobin heard her coach yell out to her “Tobin! Focus!”

 

The team was still down by one as the halftime whistle blew. Tobin jogged over to the bench to get some water before heading into the locker room.

“Tobin...whatever ‘this’ is, whatever is going on, you need to step up okay? C’mon you’re better than that” Her coach stated. She nodded as she saw Kelley waiting for her up ahead.

“Tobs, You need to forget about Friday night okay? Right now, you gotta be here!” Kelley said hoping to snap the girl out of it.

“I’m here, I’m here, I swear” Tobin declared knowing full well that she wasn’t at her best.

No one else acknowledged her first half performance knowing that it wouldn’t help much pointing out the obvious.

An hour later and Tobin was sitting on the same bench with the same lingering thought. Her second half performance was better but she was still obviously distracted. Her team lost by one goal, off of a slip up on her part.

_What am I going to do?_

She took a few long breaths before finally accepting what she knew she had to do. She had to confront Alex about Friday night. It wasn’t going to be pretty, she was sure of it, but it had to be done.

 

To get over the day’s game, Tobin needed something to clear her head. She decided a nice jog down to the town park was exactly what she needed. She hadn’t thought much about how she would ever reach Alex until she finally stopped running to take a break. She sat down under the tree’s big branches knowing that she could find some peace of mind there. It was her favorite spot in the park and what was better yet was that it was the late afternoon and no one would be around. Before she could brainstorm about what she might say to Alex or even how to reach her she heard an exasperated sigh on the other side of the tree and a rustling of leaves.

 

All Alex wanted to do the day after her game was forget everything that happened Friday night. The very fact that she was craving Tobin’s touch was enough to freak her out. Unable to do any homework, she grabbed her phone and pulled on a hoodie before driving to a park she normally didn’t go to very often. With her headphones in she took off, willing herself to forget anything on her brain and allowing herself to be consumed with the breeze hitting her face and her legs pushing through. Later on, she needed to catch her breath, so she stopped at the next tree she saw, putting her weight against it with the palm of her hand as she caught her breath, headphones still in.

Tobin gingerly cocked her ahead around the tree to see if she could recognize the source of the noise.

She was surprised to see a girl who looked to be about her age. She couldn’t really get a good look at the angle she was at, and the impending darkness of the night was settling in. She carefully got up to walk away since two people can’t share her tree when she heard a gasp from the girl. She turned to apologize for startling the girl.

“Oh sorr-..oh..Alex.”

Alex’s eyes were wide with surprise when she heard someone and she yanked her headphones off. It took a moment in the dim light, but once she heard the voice it only took a second later to recognize the face. “Tobin,” she said as she tried to force Friday night’s memories to the back of her mind.

Tobin coughed to keep from being awkward but it was no use. She had no idea what to say to the girl. The last thing she expected was to see the one person she was running away from right in front of her.

“Umm” She began as she rubbed her neck nervously. “What are you doing here?”

The striker bit her lip, fingers fidgeting with her headphones. _Out of all people and all places, why Tobin and why now?_ “I um...needed to go for a run. Why are you here?”

“Had a bad game, needed to clear my head-” Tobin said cutting herself off not wanting to bring up Friday night.

Alex’s eyebrows raised as Tobin cut herself off. “I had a bad game yesterday. Head’s kind of all over the place, too.”

The two stared in silence for a second before Alex finally said, “Are we going to pretend nothing happened or--”

Tobin left her jaw unhinged as the words failed to come to her.

“We...were drunk” Was all she could manage to say as she didn’t dare move her eyes from the ground.

Alex watched the girl with her bright eyes in the dark. She was still unsure how to approach the situation at all. “I-I know. Too drunk really,” she continued for her. “No one knows about it, right?” she asked suddenly, a thought of the rest of her rivals finding out coming to her. She wasn’t sure if she could handle that.

Tobin immediately shook her head “No..You didn’t tell anyone, did you?” she managed to say as she shifted her weight right to left.

“No no,” Alex said quickly. “Of course not.” Obviously she wasn’t about to say Hope had taken her to the party and saw the whole thing happen. She wasn’t sure what the purpose of this conversation was but she was still trying to shaking the need to feel Tobin’s lips against hers again.

“Um..well that’s good, would hate to stir anything up” Tobin replied wondering how she could escape the conversation. The increasing temptation to take a step closer to the girl was telling her to run the other direction.

Alex nodded, clearing her throat. “Yeah…” she said weakly. Her eyes flickered to Tobin’s lips before looking at the girl’s whole face. It was only steps separating them and Alex’s resistance was growing weaker. The craving she’d been feeling for four days was stronger than ever with the culprit right in front of her.

“I-I mean we can just forget it ever happened right?” Tobin said a little more softly as she was feeling more and more vulnerable. She noticed what she thought was Alex moving a little closer to her and she was all too ready to assume it was because the girl couldn't hear her.

At Tobin’s suggestion, Alex moved a little closer. She could hear the girl perfectly fine, but there was something drawing her to Tobin and Alex wanted more than anything for it to stop. “O-Of course we can. It was just a stupid mistake,” Alex reasoned. There was something in her telling her not to forget, to hold on to it, but she was still trying to remain level headed and smart about the situation. She noticed Tobin licking her lips and she told herself it was because of the air leaving them a little chapped.

“Good so..stupid ..G-good” Tobin said again. She looked at Alex’s lips as the girl was about to say something else but before she could she took a step forward silencing her. “So stupid” She said aloud more to herself than to Alex. “Like this” she said before smashing her lips against the girl’s. The familiarity of her kiss almost taking her breath away.

The fact that Tobin was so close to her was making Alex dizzy. Her heart was pounding so loud she was scare the other girl could hear it. Flashes of Friday returned as Tobin silenced her and her eyes flickered down to those lips again, this time not looking up. The next moment Alex felt Tobin’s lips on hers and she completely lost all common sense. Her arms wrapped around Tobin’s neck as she kissed her back, her cravings finally being fulfilled. Every little bit of resistance dissolved as she held Tobin closer, missing the contact she’d first felt days ago.

Tobin pulled back a little as the realization of what she had done finally came to her senses. It was like deja vu to Friday night except both girls were sober and that’s what scared Tobin the most.

“Sorry” She breathlessly said unsure of what else would be appropriate.

It took Alex a moment to process what happened. The buzzing sensation was on her lips once again because of Tobin and she heard the apology, but shook her head. “I’m not,” she whispered before tugging Tobin towards her again and locking their lips together.

After a few minutes of going back and forth Alex finally pulled away, catching her breath as her gaze fell on Tobin. “As much as I like making out with you, I don’t think I can do it if I know you still feel the need to hate me.”

Reality hit Tobin once again as the words came spilling out of Alex. She sighed heavily as she stared into her piercing blue eyes which seemed to have an effect on her even in the dark. She knew the reality of the situation, and simply put, there was too much at stake. She let go of the girl “We can’t do this Alex..you know we can’t..if it was any other world..then, maybe.”

“What are you so afraid of, Tobin?”

Tobin paused for a moment unsure if she was ready to say what was really on her mind.

“You..I’m scared of you, terrified actually”

Alex stared at the girl, waiting for her to continue.

“In any other world I’d ask you out, I’d take you on a date, and we could laugh, and have a great time. But you’re Alex Morgan, and I’m Tobin Heath and in this world we can’t do ‘this’ .”

Alex’s bottom lip tucked under her teeth, the words coming out of Tobin’s mouth causing something in her to long for the midfielder. Tobin was more than right; they both knew that. There wasn’t anything they could do to change who they were and how the world worked.

Suddenly, an idea dawned on Alex. She looked up to meet Tobin’s warm brown eyes. “But what if no one knew?” she challenged.

Feeling defeated Tobin quirked an eyebrow at Alex’s suggestion. The thought hadn’t crossed her mind. In fact the only thing crossing her mind was Alex and how soon their lips could touch again. But now that the girl brought it up she was intrigued. She didn’t know what was going on between them but she knew that she didn’t want it to stop.

“It’ll be hard” Tobin began. She watched the look on Alex’s face sink but she smirked knowing she wasn’t done yet “But it would be worth it”

Alex’s expression perked up at Tobin’s last statement. A smile found her lips and she pressed her forehead against Tobin’s. “I’m in if you’re in.”

Tobin was amazed at all that was happening. It was like her sense had flown out the window but she reasoned that if it meant that she could be with Alex then it was worth it. She wasn’t sure when she crossed the line between rivals and something more but she figured it was sometime around when Alex’s lips acquainted themselves with hers.

“I’m in” she said as she flashed the younger girl a smile.


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secret's a secret, but don't let anyone get in the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kate and I would just like to take a moment to say THANK YOU so much for all the feedback we got for the last part. You guys are amazing and honestly it makes us really happy to know people enjoyed it enough to tell us about it. :) You guys are great, we love you!

“So I guess this is a good time to tell you..” Tobin began but paused to let Alex worry about whatever she was going to say next. “...You were right about the shoes”

All the initial panic that had shot up Alex’s system at the tone of Tobin’s voice dissipated as she laughed, nudging Tobin’s shoulder. “I told you,” she smirked. They were sitting with their backs against the tree, Tobin’s tree, with Alex leaning into the older girl comfortably.

Tobin opened her mouth to speak again but was stopped as her phone rang in her pocket.

“Hello? …..Oh yeah okay i’ll be back in a few” She hung up and turned her attention back to the girl leaning on her. “It was my mom, dinner time.” She got up helping Alex up as she went “Can I see you tomorrow?” She asked suddenly shy again.

Alex’s expression slightly fell as she realized their time together was coming to an end for the night. At Tobin’s question, it lit up again. “Um….” she thought for a moment. “Yeah, all I have tomorrow after school is practice. Where are we going to meet up?”

Tobin thought about it for a minute. She was so lost in Alex’s kiss that she seemed to forget that they weren’t allowed to be together, let alone be seen together.

“How about I meet you at your field after your practice?” Tobin realized the risk in meeting Alex on her turf but she liked a good challenge.

Alex bit her lip, looking at Tobin with a worried expression. “Are you sure?”

“Don’t worry bout it cap, no one will see me!”

The striker giggled, grabbing Tobin’s hoodie and tugging her closer. “If you say so, Captain,” she smirked before leaning in to give Tobin a soft kiss before they parted ways.

Tobin felt the butterflies once again as Alex’s lips left hers for the night. She flashed the girl another smile “Till then!”

 

Nothing could ruin Alex’s mood the following day. For the first time in over a week, she wasn’t moping around, and for the first time in days her mind was nowhere else. She noticed a few of her teammates in the courtyard before the bell rang, so she made her way over.

“Hey guys,” she smiled, taking a seat next to Sydney.

“Hello there Miss Sunshine,” Kristie deadpanned. “What’s got you in a good mood today?”

Alex shrugged, a shy smile crossing her lips. “Dunno. Just...feels like a good day.”

Sydney exchanged a glance with Kristie. “Uh...right. And what brought on this good mood?’

“Not sure,” Alex lied easily. “Just..I’m ready to be focused again.”

Yael leaned over, patting Alex’s shoulder. “That’s the spirit, Lex.”

“Thanks Yaya,” the captain laughed.

Hope was eyeing her teammate carefully. She knew something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t tell what it was. Of course she was happy that Alex had gotten out of her funk, but was it possible for Alex to blow over everything she’d been freaking out about so quickly?

The bell rang and the girls all went their separate ways, but Hope quickly caught up to Alex. “Hey Al.”

“Hi Hope,” Alex grinned at her.

“Are you okay?”

Alex quirked an eyebrow at the tall keeper. “I’m fine, Hope. I’m great, actually. Why?”

“Well for one,” Hope started, falling into step with the girl as they entered the doors of the school. “You’re in a happy go-lucky mood, and it’s kind of freaking me out.”

The striker only laughed. “I’m great, really.”

“Uh-huh….” Hope said, unconvinced. “And second, you can’t stop fidgeting. When you fidget it means you’re anxious or excited.”

Alex’s step faltered for a moment. Damn Hope for knowing her so well. “Uh...I don’t know what it is Hope.” She felt bad for lying to the one person she could count on to get her through anything and guide her in the right direction, but she wasn’t going to share the fact that she was dating Tobin Heath and that they were meeting after school. That wouldn’t end well for anyone.

“But seriously, don’t worry about me,” she assured the older girl.

“Is this about Tobin?” Hope suddenly asked in a quieter tone.

“What?” Alex asked, almost tripping over her own feet at the question. “Tobin?”

“You know...Friday night,” Hope said slowly, as if jogging Alex’s memory.

“Oh!” Alex exclaimed, trying to do her best to play her part. “No. Well, yeah. It’s whatever Hope,” she explained. “It’s the past. You were right, blew over pretty quickly.”

Hope looked at the younger girl strangely. This was nowhere near Alex’s normal behavior. “Okay…”

“I have to go to class. I’ll see you at lunch?” Alex offered, patting Hope’s arm. “Bye Hope!” she called as she walked off to class.

“What the hell…” Hope muttered, completely dumbfounded by Alex.

 

The blue eyed striker didn’t leave Tobin’s mind all day as she sat through class. But this time it was because she couldn’t wait to see the girl again rather than the other way around. She counted the seconds until the last bell rang and she could be on her way. The team was taking a break and she relished in the fact that she could sneakily catch some of Alex’s practice.

“Oh hey Tobs! Wait up!”

Tobin turned to see Lauren waving to her as she opened the door to leave school.

“Where ya headed off to in such a rush?” she asked knowing her best friend was usually never one to jump up and rush off places.

“Ah I told my parents I’d go to the store for them” Tobin horribly fibbed.

Cheney looked at her suspiciously as she quirked an eyebrow.

“Well you wanna hang after you go to the store? I’m taking full advantage of this day off and Ash and I were going to go shopping! Want to come?”

Tobin hummed unsure of another equally bad excuse to give her friend.

“I’ll let you know, I never know what other errands my parents might need me to run y’know?”

“Okay.. yeah just let me know” Cheney said increasingly suspicious.

“Alright later Chen!” Tobin said with a sigh as she continued on her way to her car once again.

 

A fresh bead of sweat rolled down Tobin’s face as she pulled into her rival’s parking lot. She knew she told Alex she could handle being there and successfully not get seen but she wasn’t so sure as she looked at the number of people in the lot. She found some sunglasses and an old baseball cap in her car to disguise herself . She looked around as she snuck towards the bleachers of the soccer field. Noticing no one was even paying attention to her she breathed knowing she made it this far.

Meanwhile on the field, Alex was just wanting practice to be over so she could see Tobin. Though she attempted to tone it down after Hope pointed it out that morning, she couldn’t stop herself from moving around. She was constantly jumping in place or shifting her weight from foot to foot. Her eyes went to the bleachers, wondering what time Tobin would arrive when she saw a guy sitting there, watching. Once they made eye contact, he smiled at her. It took Alex a moment, but she realized it was Servando from the indoor soccer gym. She smiled back and waved at him, but was still confused. _What is he doing here?_

“Alex, is that the guy from the indoor soccer gym?” Kristie asked, noticing the exchange.

It only took Sydney a moment to jump into the conversation. “Hey! That’s the guy you’re always telling me is cute!”

Alex’s eyes widened as she smacked Sydney’s arms. “Syd!”

Kristie laughed. “Hey, he’s cute Al,” she shrugged.

“Well whatever,” Alex hissed, glaring at the both of them. “Can we not look like we’re talking about him?”

“But we are,” Sydney said with a smirk. She looked at Kristie before the two of them burst into laughter.

Alex rolled her eyes, annoyed. “I hate you two.”

“LEROUX, MEWIS, MORGAN!” Their coach called out to them. “If you’re done with your gossip circle, it’d be nice if you could join us for our next drill.”

The captain sent death glares to her two teammates. “Great guys, just great.”

“Oh sorry Al, did we embarrass you in front of Mr. Indoor Soccer Gym?” Sydney teased.

Alex let out a frustrated groan, stomping away from them and over to the rest of the team. “Idiots,” she mumbled.

Tobin stealthily snuck under the bleachers to watch the rest of practice so as to not be seen by any of Alex’s teammates. Tobin gave herself a mental high five for actually getting there unseen, a feat she wasn’t sure she could overcome even when she promised Alex she could. Her little victory was interrupted when she heard a rumble above her as someone shuffled their feet. She peered to see the face of the feet which looked very familiar for some reason. Before she could see she jumped back at the sound of a very yell. She almost bumped her head as she looked around her in a panic. She looked on the field to see Alex’s coach in what appeared to be a frenzied state as she yelled at Alex, the Sydney girl and her friend.

 _Huh I wonder what she’s yelling about?_ Tobin thought as she shrugged.

As practice concluded Tobin couldn't help but feel guilty. For what, she wasn’t sure but she couldn’t deny that Alex’s team was good, and looked even better than last time she saw them. She smiled as she watched Alex struggle with her penny _What a dork_ , she mouthed to no one.

She patiently waited under the bleachers until she could see everyone leave but she noticed Alex, Sydney, and the Mewis girl lagging behind the rest of the team. They looked to be pointing and waving in Tobin’s direction and she forgot for a moment that there was another person on the bleachers who didn’t leave. As much as she wanted to run over and see Alex she would have to wait a little longer.

Alex wanted nothing more than to look for Tobin, but she couldn’t do that with Sydney and Kristie teasing her and pointing to Servando, who still hadn’t left. She wasn’t even sure why he was there watching them in the first place, but she pulled off her cleats slowly, wondering what it would take to get Sydney and Kristie to leave.

“Alex, aren’t you going to go talk to him?”

Alex rolled her eyes. “Why would I?”

“Um _hello_ ,” Sydney said, nudging Alex. “He’s obviously here for you. He’s waiting for you.”

“He could be waiting for Kristie,” Alex pointed out as she pulled on her other shoes. “He knows her.”

“He doesn’t flirt with me like he flirts with you,” Kristie laughed in a singsong voice. “Come on Al, let’s see what he wants.”

Alex groaned. “Would it make you happy if I went over there?”

Sydney and Kristie eagerly nodded, just as Hope came around. “Hey, what’s he doing here?”

“He’s here for Alex,” Sydney immediately answered.

“Syd!”

Hope’s eyebrows raised as she turned to Alex. “Is this why you’re in a good mood out of nowhere?”

Sydney gasped as she connected the dots like Hope. “Oh my god! Alex!’

“No!” Alex groaned.

“She doesn’t want to admit it,” Sydney smirked. “Come on, let’s go over there!”

Finally, reasoning that everyone would leave her alone if she did it, Alex stood. “Fine, if it really makes you happy.”

“You’re such a good captain!” Sydney grinned, now bouncing around.

“Well have fun with that,” Hope said, smirking at Alex. She gave her a light nudge before walking off to the parking lot.

Alex let out a long sigh. “What did I do to deserve this?” She was itching to find Tobin, but that was practically impossible with everything going on.

The three made their way to Servando, who had walked off the bleachers and waited for them with his hands in his pockets. It seemed like Kristie and Sydney were more excited for the interaction than Alex was, which was probably true.

“Hi Servando,” Alex mustered up a smile.

“Hey Alex,” he grinned at her, then turned to the other two. “Kristie, right? And…?”

“I’m Sydney,” the striker enthusiastically filled in for him.

“Nice to meet you,” he nodded, then turned his attention back to Alex. “You’re great out there, you know.”

Alex blushed at the compliment, thanking the hard work she was putting out there for covering it up. “Thanks.”

“Sessions at the gym helping you out?” Servando teased.

Alex laughed, but at the mention of the gym, she was reminded of when she first ran into Tobin. “Sure.”

“So Servando,” Kristie said as the conversation came to a lull. “What brings you here?”

“Well actually, I have to ask Alex something,” he explained.

Sydney and Kristie looked at each other, then at Alex, who held in a groan at their antics.

“What’s up?” Alex asked, wondering what on earth could possibly bring him to her practice.

“I was wondering if you wanted to maybe go out with me this weekend?” Servando asked, looking at Alex with a shy gaze.

Oh god, Alex thought.

Sydney had no shame in letting out a squeal. “Alex!”

“Only if you’re not busy,” he quickly added.

“We don’t have anything planned this weekend, right?” Kristie asked Sydney.

Sydney thought for a moment. “Nope, Alex should be free.”

“Huh?” Alex asked, looking between the two of them. “How do you know I’m free?”

“Cause all you ever do on the weekends is hang out with us,” Sydney explained in a _duh_ voice.

“Do not!” Alex argued, pouting.

“She does,” Kristie told Servando, patting Alex’s back.

“But anyway,” Sydney said, turning her attention back to the guy in front of Alex. “She’d love to.”

“I didn’t--”

“She’s a little shy,” Sydney told Servando over Alex’s voice so she was cut off.

Servando laughed. “She’s not shy when it comes to one-on-ones.”

Alex’s eyes widened. _I’m never gonna live this down with Syd._ “Servando!”

Servando chuckled. “It’s okay Alex, it’s okay. I’ll see you this weekend then. Saturday?”

“Perfect!” Sydney exclaimed.

“Alright, bye ladies. I have to get going. I’ll see you around,” he said to the other two before walking away.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Sydney and Kristie began squealing while Alex turned to them and snapped. “What was that?!”

“Alex, we’re doing you a favor. You’re shy when it comes to guys.”

“Am not!”

“You kind of are,” Kristie shrugged, siding with her best friend.

“You’re gonna thank us later!” Sydney proclaimed. “But we’ve got to get going. Bye Al!”

“Best Captain ever!” Kristie added before running off with Sydney.

Tobin let out a cautious breath not knowing that she had been holding it since the group of people including Alex walked over. Thoughts were swimming in her head as what just happened was still processing.

 _Servando?_ Tobin thought, she was confused and a bit let down. Sure, Alex didn’t directly say ‘yes’ to him but she also didn’t say ‘no’ putting Tobin in an even more of a situation than she originally thought. Noticing that Kristie and Sydney ran off, and Servando left in the other direction, Tobin whispered as she came to her senses. “Alex, down here”

Alex heard the whisper just as she was turning to leave. She spun around and looked around for a moment before catching sight of someone under the bleachers. Her whole face lit up when she saw it was Tobin. Without even thinking, she sprinted over and pulled Tobin into a hug. “Hey,” she whispered, then pulled away, growing shy. “Ugh, sorry. I smell gross, don’t I?”

“I’m used to it” Tobin said with a smirk. “So what’s the deal with Servando?”

Alex bit her lip, embarrassed by the whole situation. “God, you saw that?” She sighed, shaking her head. “I wasn’t going to say yes to him, but Syd and Mewie kind of spoke for me and he’s too nice of a guy to back out of a date from so I…” She shrugged, unable to explain any better. “I couldn’t exactly tell them I was already dating someone because they’d ask who and…”

“Well… it’s only fair I guess..I mean I never officially asked you out” Tobin stated although since yesterday she sure felt like Alex was hers.

Alex quirked an eyebrow, a smirk finding her lips. “Then do it now.”

Tobin continued to stare intently into the girl’s eyes, the smile not leaving her face.

“As long as you don’t hate me too much….are you still sure you want to be asked out?” Tobin asked playfully.

Alex giggled, feeling completely at ease with the girl. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Well okay then you asked for it.” Tobin began as she got down on one knee hoping to make the girl laugh some more, the smile still blaring on her face. “Alex Morgan….will you go out with me?”

Alex couldn’t control her laughter at all. She covered her face, trying to control herself. “You’re literally the biggest dork ever,” she said. “Who knew.” She looked at Tobin’s position and laughed again before playing along. “Yes, Tobin Heath. I will go out with you.”

An even bigger smile crept onto Tobin’s lips making her face even brighter. “God, I thought you’d never say ‘yes’, my knee was starting to hurt!” She quipped.

Alex rolled her eyes, grabbing Tobin’s hands and helping her up, but really just ended up in Tobin’s embrace. “Sorry, did you want me to kiss it?”

“Yeah I think you need to kiss something else first….my lips seem to be in critical condition, it might be too late. You might want to get over here now” Tobin said as she pulled Alex closer.

The striker bit her lip, trying to hide her smile. “You’re such a loser,” she pointed out, leaning into Tobin as she met the midfielder’s lips.

“You said ‘Yes’ to this loser...never forget!” Tobin matter-of-factly stated.

Alex laughed, unable to kiss Tobin because of the words that were coming out of her mouth. “I don’t think I want to forget,” she winked before leaning in and pressing her lips to Tobin’s before the other girl could say another word.

 

“Huh I guess Tobin isn’t joining us” Cheney said as she looked down at her phone.

“She’s been acting so weird lately, like, mood swing much?” Ashlyn said as she took a sip of her oversized lemonade that she bought.

“Yeah I don’t know, when I asked her to come with us , she said she was running errands for her parents..” Cheney replied still in obvious disbelief.

“She’s probably got a boyfriend behind the scenes y’know? Hey maybe it’s that guy from the indoor gym she was telling me about!” Ashlyn stated suddenly excited that she could be right.

Cheney laughed “If Tobin was dating someone we’d know, she’s not good at keeping secrets..”

Ashlyn just shrugged as the two rounded a corner of the mall.

“Ooo look at this!” Ashlyn exclaimed as she excitedly pointed to something knocking into someone as she did and knocking some of her drink on the person.

“Oh my bad! So Sorry!” Ashlyn said but jumped a little as she met Sydney Leroux and Hope Solo’s meanest faces.

“Should really watch where you’re going,” Sydney glared after inspecting the soda stain on her clothes. Hope just opted for giving her typical mean face to the two they’d run into.

“Whoaaa okay sorry ….hey I think the stain really improved the outfit” Ashlyn snarkily replied motioning to the girl’s drenched clothes.

“Watch your mouth Harris,” Hope warned, glaring at the other keeper.

Suddenly growing serious Ashlyn stared right back “You don’t scare me Solo, you think you’re hot shit don’t you?”

“Pssst Ash..let’s go” Cheney cut in hoping to  stop whatever was to come next.

“Running away so soon?” Sydney quirked an eyebrow.

“Syd.” Hope said in a soft warning tone.

Ignoring Cheney’s suggestion Ashlyn let her hot-headedness get the best of her “Can’t take it Solo? I would think you of all people would be able to handle a measly someone like me?” she mockingly stated.

At this, Hope’s resolve started to wear thin. “Oh, don’t worry Harris. I take can your ass any day. It’s just that unlike you, I know the time and place to do it and it’s certainly not here. I know my timing.”

Feeling played Ashlyn furiously bit her lip and clenched her fists.

“Ash, c’mon just walk away” Lauren calmly said as she started to push her friend away.

“Gonna let her take away your pride like that?” Sydney challenged, wanting the tension to finally explode.

“Sydney,” Hope growled. “Let it go.”

“No, I’m done with the bullshit,” Sydney snapped. “You wanna fight, Harris? Then fucking fight!”

“You know what? I’m fucking done with this,” Hope rolled her eyes.

“Huh?” Sydney asked, turning around to face her, but Hope was already walking away. “Hope!” she called after her.

Hope kept walking.

“Where are you going?!” Sydney asked, frustrated, she turned to look at the other two. They were just as dumbfounded as her.

Seeing opportunity Cheney grabbed Ashlyn and pushed her in the other direction before Sydney could notice they were gone as well.

 

Hope knew it was somewhat wrong of her to leave without making sure Sydney didn’t start anything, but she couldn’t help it. She was so tired of the rivalry following them outside of the pitch. No matter where they seemed to go, it always followed. No one could forget it existed. But she had something else on her mind as she drove away from the mall, or rather someone. And she felt it was her job to be with that someone as much as she could because their time together was always, and would possibly always, be limited.

She pulled into the driveway, noticing only one car was there and immediately recognized it as Kelley’s. She smiled, knowing for at least a few hours she could forget the rivalry and the dirty words and looks and tackles exchanged and only focus on Kelley. Not Kelley from the other team, but Kelley, her girlfriend. She hopped out of her car and jogged over to the door, hitting the doorbell.

Kelley was nestling in for a ‘Teen Mom’ marathon when she heard her doorbell ring. Frustrated that she was being taken away from her guilty pleasure, she reasoned that the only person that would be okay to interrupt her junk tv would be her other guilty pleasure :Hope. She opened the door to her towering girlfriend, her steel blue eyes seeping into her soul.

“Babe? Hi!” She squealed as she squeezed the keeper.

The gesture elicited a soft chuckle from Hope as she wrapped her arms around the small defender. “Hi Kel. Did I interrupt? Were you busy?” Suddenly, Hope was wondering if it was a good idea to come at all.

“Don’t be silly, c’mon come cuddle with me!” She giddily said as she guided her to the couch.

A wide smile broke onto Hope’s face as the silliness of her girlfriend. “Alright, what are we watching here?” she asked as she sat on the couch and quickly pulled Kelley towards her.

“Teen Mom and I know!...But before you judge, just watch a little first, it’s freakin crazy..”

“So this latino guy just knocked up his seventeen year old girlfriend and-” Kelley began but was interrupted by Hope’s laugh.

“You’re so cute,” she smiled. “I’ll watch it with you, no questions asked. If you like watching, then I guess I’ll give it a chance.”

“Not that I need any more drama in my life” Kelley said shifting the mood a little.

Hope quirked an eyebrow at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Eh nothing, the usual, and I know it has nothing to do with you but Tobin’s just been really weird lately and I don’t know, I just miss my best friend is all..”

“She’s been through like three different moods the past few days since the party?” Hope guessed.

“Yeah? Alex too?” Kelley guessed right back.

Hope nodded. “It was kind of weird, cause she’s been in the really good mood as if it was out of no-” Before she could continue, she was cut off by Kelley’s exclamation.

“No way! Tobin was in a really good mood yesterday and today! But she’s been not discreetly hiding something or other...I wonder-” Kelley said as a smirk grew across her freckled face.

Hope cut Kelley off immediately. “That’s not possible at all because-” She turned to look at the TV for a second and then laughed. “Hey, the latino guy looks like Servando!”

“Who’s Servando?” Kelley questioned turning her attention back to the tv.

“He’s the reason for Alex’s random happiness,” Hope explained. “She’s supposed to be going out with him this weekend. He works at some indoor soccer gym she always goes to. Which is why whatever you’re thinking isn’t possible.”

“Oh my god..wait, did you say Servando? Oh geez” Kelley said as she smacked her head.

“That’s the guy this girl on my team, Allie, is going out with! What a dog….” Kelley finally muttered.

Hope’s head snapped towards Kelley. “Wait, what did you say babe?”

“Servando? Mr. Indoor soccer gym guy?! Yeah he’s playing more than one girl” Kelley stated.

Hope’s jaw set. She wasn’t one to get in the way of who dated who and who hooked up with who - she’d be a hypocrite for doing that, anyway. But when it came to the people she truly cared about, she grew protective. She’d known Alex ever since the girl walked into the first varsity practice as a freshmen, nervous and shy. Alex was like her younger sister and she wasn’t about to let someone play her for his own enjoyment.

“He’s fucking dead.”


	6. Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teaching an asshole a lesson doesn't always go the way it's supposed to.

 

“Can it be like this all the time?” Alex mused.

Tobin was all smiles the whole night but the smile faded a little at the girl’s suggestion.

She wished more than anything that they could do ‘this’ all the time and it their relationship could be ‘normal’ but it wasn’t and that was just fact. Despite Tobin’s head instantly being unsettled she put on her best face, one full of hope for her and Alex.

“It could be!” Tobin stated.

Alex smiled, leaning up a little to kiss Tobin’s cheek. “One day.”

Before either of them could say another word, there was a  knock at the door.

Alex’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Who the hell is at my door? Wait here babe,” she instructed Tobin as she hopped up and went to answer it.

Before Alex could reach the door she heard it open and a familiar voice filled the hall. Tobin instinctively jumped behind the adjacent reclining chair hoping the visitor wouldn’t see her.

“We need to talk.”

Alex jumped in surprise. “Hope!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you, we need to talk kid,” Hope repeated. “It’s important.”

“Now?” Alex almost whined.

“Yes now,” Hope rolled her eyes as Alex let her in.

“Uh...what’s up?”

“Were you busy?” the keeper asked, walking towards Alex’s living room.

The younger girl rushed to keep up with her, knowing Tobin was still in there. She jumped in front of the taller girl. “Well, uh...I was just watching movies and having dinner.”

“This is more important.”

Alex frowned. “Will you tell me what’s going on?”

“Are you still going out with Servando tomorrow night?”

“Um…” the striker looked down, rubbing the back of her neck. She didn’t like talking about it at all, especially not with Tobin in hearing distance. “Syd and Mewie kind of gave me no choice.”

Tobin felt her breath hitch at the sound of Servando’s name. Unsure what this was all about she continued to listen intently.

“Alex shut up, you’re into him,” Hope reasoned.

Alex mumbled something that sounded like “Sure.”

Hope shook her head. “Well, you’re not going out with him tomorrow night.”

Alex’s head snapped up, eyes wide with attention. “What? Why?”

“You remember Allie Long?”

Alex thought for a moment, “Uh…rival?”

Still not over the fact that she was even in this situation, Tobin gave a deep sigh as she heard her good friend’s name come up in the conversation.

Hope nodded. “She’s the one that gets a yellow practically every time she plays for obvious reason.”

“She almost kicked me in the face!” Alex pouted.

“Yeah whatever, focus here,” Hope snapped and Alex shut up. “Look, I heard that she was on a date with Servando last weekend. He apparently promised her they’d go out again this weekend.”

Alex’s eyebrows raised as she stood there in silence, taking in the information. Finally she said, “Oh.”

Hope sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry Al, I know you liked him. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Tobin was getting increasingly anxious as the conversation continued between the two. _Does she really like him?_ she wondered as she was ready for Hope to leave now.

Alex’s lips formed into a tight line. “Mhmm. I get it Hope.” She wanted to know what Tobin was making out of all this, if she was friends with Allie and if she believed what Hope was saying about Alex’s feelings, but she’d have to wait until Hope was out of the house.

“So you’re not going tomorrow, right?” the older girl asked, almost condescendingly.

“Of course not,” Alex assured her, relieved. But then a thought occurred to her. “Wait! Actually…”

“Alex…” Hope said, knowing the look on the striker’s face wasn’t one of any good.

“I mean...I could teach him a lesson,” Alex shrugged, a mischievous smile on her face.

“No,” the keeper said immediately, crossing her arms. “This is going to go wrong and I know it.”

“Aw, come on Hope!” Alex pleaded. “He has no idea I know any of this! I could _totally_ do some damage.”

“Absolutely not,” Hope shook her head. “You know something’s gonna go wrong.”

“It won’t!” Alex promised. “Come on Hope!”

“Alex, I swear, it won’t end well!” Hope argued. “Come on kid, he’s bad news. He’s not worth it.”

“Well, I’m trying to teach him a lesson so he won’t do it again,” Alex shot back. _And to get Syd and Mewie off my back about being in a good mood about someone. They’d still think it was Servando_ , Alex didn’t say.

“Alex,” Hope let out an exasperated sigh. “Not this time.”

Alex frowned. “Come on, you’re usually on my side.”

“I am,” Hope assured her. “I always am. And I’m saying no for your own good, trust me.”

Alex crossed her arms, pouting. “You’re not my mom.”

“I’m not,” the older one admitted. “but Alex, you’re literally like my little sister. I’d do anything to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’ll _be_ okay,” Alex rolled her eyes. “And stop being a sap, it’s weird.”

Hope chuckled, giving Alex a light nudge. “Whatever. I should go, but _no_ trying to teach Servando a lesson, okay? Karma’s going to bite his ass one day.”

“Yeah yeah,” Alex mimicked, waving her away. “Bye Hope!” She said as she practically pushed the older girl out the door.

“Bye! Have fun with your pizza!”

Alex laughed, quickly shutting the door. She went back into the living room, wondering what Tobin was making of all of this.

“Wow” was all Tobin could say as she stood up from the back of the recliner “I don’t even know what to say” with a look of disbelief etched on her face.

“I don’t like him,” Alex blurted out suddenly, walking over to Tobin. “It’s...a distraction, really.” She felt the need to explain herself because her teammates all teasing Alex about Servando could be interpreted in different ways, and Alex had to make sure Tobin understood the right reason.

“Yeah, I get it” Tobin stated in understanding “It doesn’t make it any easier to hear though but yeah, I understand..So what are you going to do?” Tobin asked as she sat back down in her spot on the couch.

“Well,” the striker started, sitting down next to Tobin, but sitting crossed legged and facing the other girl. The movie was now just background noise as Alex began to explain. “I was thinking that I would go out with him tomorrow, but ‘coincidentally’, Allie would be there too,” she smirked.

“Alex…..are you asking me what I think you’re asking?” Tobin questioned  assuming she knew exactly what was going through the younger girl’s mind.

A wicked grin found Alex’s face. “Only days into this and you already know what I’m thinking,” she laughed, but then nodded. “Please Tobs?”

It was the first time that the nickname everyone else had given her came out of Alex’s mouth. Tobin smiled thinking it couldn’t have sounded any more perfect with the girl’s raspy voice. She quickly turned her attention back to the matter at hand as Alex’s eager eyes brought her back.

She gave a heavy sigh, full of hesitation “Um, I mean Allie is my good friend, and you’re my-my uh, my girl” Tobin rushed out before continuing “And this guy is a jerk but do you really think this plan of yours will end well?” Tobin softly reasoned.

Alex’s grin only widened at Tobin calling Alex _her_ girl. She’d never once in her life been happier to hear anyone she was dating claim her as Tobin just did. Her smile faltered as Tobin continued. “But he’s a total ass for doing this, don’t you think he deserves what’s coming? And plus, it’ll keep my friends occupied instead of trying to figure out what _really_ makes happy.”

Tobin gave a chuckle “Okay Lex….let’s do it, give this guy what he deserves!” Tobin said jumping on board even though there was a growing feeling of bad news written all over the idea.

The younger girl looked at Tobin, a curious look on her face with a hint of a smile. “Hardly anyone ever calls me Lex.”

“Well...I’m not just anyone” Tobin stated returning a shy smirk.

Alex giggled, biting her lip. “You’re right. It’s cause you’re mine.” She leaned in to kiss Tobin, but was stopped short when she heard her front door bang open. “What the fuck?!” Alex whispered.

“ALEX!”

The striker’s eyes widened. “Shit,” she hissed, getting up.

Tobin gave an exhausted sigh as she jumped back behind the couch again.

“SYD!” She answered, running into the hall to meet the other striker. “How the hell did you get into my house?!”

Sydney dangled a pair of house keys in Alex’s face. “You gave me a spare, remember?”

Alex groaned, closing her eyes. _Note to self: never give Sydney spare keys to anything...ever again._

Tobin gave herself a mental note to remind Alex to never give Sydney spare keys to anything.

“Not that I don’t love you or anything, but why are you here?”

“I don’t know,” Sydney shrugged. “Kristie’s off with her sister so I decided to drop by.”

“You couldn’t have texted...called..?” Alex asked, annoyance growing by the second.

“I did,” Sydney frowned. “You just didn’t answer, so I assumed you were sleeping or something.”

“I could have been kidnapped,” Alex reasoned.

“Which is why it’s a good thing I came by!” Sydney grinned.

Alex shook her head, letting out a long sigh. All she wanted was to go back into the living room and make out with Tobin.

“So, what are we up to here?” Sydney asked, skipping past Alex towards the living room.

Alex sprinted after her, but of course Sydney was too fast. “Uh, nothing,” she said quickly, scanning the room to make sure Tobin couldn’t be seen. “Just movies…”

“Ohh! What are we watching?!” Sydney asked. “And pizza! Wow Alex, way to be selfish. You could have called.”

Alex glared at her, crossing her arms. “Uh-huh.”

“Aw come on Al, cheer up. Your best friend’s here!”

“Yes, and she should go,” Alex pouted.

“Why?”

“Because I was having alone time,” Alex groaned. _With Tobin._

Tobin couldn’t help but let out an audible laugh, at what, she wasn’t sure, maybe all of it.

“What was that?” Sydney asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alex’s eyes widened as she glanced at the couch before replying, “What was what?”

Sydney got up and started making her way over to where Tobin was hiding. “Al, I heard something. It sounded like a person.”

Panic set in as Tobin had nowhere to run, she hoped Alex had a backup plan because otherwise shit was about to hit the fan.

“Syd, I’m going on my date tomorrow with Servando and I need to borrow your clothes!” Alex exclaimed quickly, not knowing what else to say. She was freaking out because if Sydney found Tobin it would be game over.

Quickly forgetting about her investigation, Sydney spun around, an excited look on her face. “Wait, so you’re admitting you’re excited for this date?”

Tobin wiped her brow in relief _That was a close one._

“Um….yeah,” Alex nodded, going along with it.

Sydney quickly ran over to Alex, squeezing her in an embrace. “See! I knew it! I knew it all along! You’re so into him!”

“Uh-huh,” Alex breathed out. “Syd...can’t...breathe.”

“So where are you guys going?” Sydney asked.

“A little fancy, not too fancy. Date night fancy,” Alex specified. “I don’t have any dresses, I need to raid your closet.”

“I’ll go look for something right now!” Sydney suggested.

Alex grinned, glad she was leaving. “Yeah, send me pictures, and we’ll decide!”

“Got it!” Sydney called out, already leaving.

Alex sighed in relief, closing the door behind the rushing girl. “Babe, coast is clear!” she called out as she walked back into the living room.

“Does this happen often? Am I going to have to get used to being interrupted?” Tobin joked as she pulled the girl back into a tight hold.

Alex laughed, shaking her head. “No, I swear. It’s just tonight. Everyone’s out to ruin our date,” she pouted, resting her forehead against Tobin’s.

“We’re going to be a couple date-ruiners tomorrow so it’s only fair I guess” Tobin said light-heartedly as she leaned up to kiss Alex’s forehead.

A giggle escaped Alex’s lips and she smiled as she felt Tobin’s lips on her skin. “You’re right. But come on, let’s finish this movie.”

 

The following night, Alex was in Sydney’s dark blue, sleeveless, tight-fitting dress and black heels with her hair straightened. She actually attempted to look good because it made victory sweeter when it was all over. That morning, Alex called Hope to ask her to be where the date was supposed to happen, just to make sure Sydney and Kristie wouldn’t do anything stupid, because knowing them, they’d end up spying on Alex. At first Hope was reluctant, but in the end she agreed to be there only because she “wanted to see everything go horribly wrong”.

“Wow, you look amazing,” was the first thing that came out of Servando’s mouth when Alex opened the door.

Alex blushed and gave him a small smile. “Thanks,” she murmured before quickly walking to his car.

They filled the ride to the restaurant with small talk, but Alex was jittery once again. She was scared that it would go wrong as soon as they arrived, but she had to think positive.

 

Hope was sitting at a table by herself, menu covering her face. She knew Alex was due to walk through the door at any moment, but she still hadn’t seen Kristie or her troublesome best friend anywhere. It wasn’t until she heard a clang and a “Syd!” hissed that she found the duo in the back, eyes on the door.

Rolling her own eyes, she stood and walked over to them. “You guys are so dumb.”

“Hope!” Kristie exclaimed, dropping her menu. “What are you doing here?”

“What a lovely surprise!” Sydney said over dramatically, batting her eyelashes.

Hope gave her a hard stare. “Stop sassing me,” she ordered Sydney. “And I’m here to make sure you two don’t mess anything up tonight.”

“You’re here for Alex’s date too?!”

“Didn’t I just…” Finding it a pointless cause to try to reason with Sydney, she sighed. “Yeah.” She slid into the seat across from the two.

“They’re here!” Kristie announced, grabbing her menu and covering her face again.

Hope turned to find Alex and Servando walking in. She made eye contact with the striker and nudged her head to Sydney and Kristie, rolling her eyes.

“Hey! She looks hot,” Sydney nodded in approval. “I knew she’d look good in the blue one!”

“Syd, shut up,” Kristie hissed, both of them oblivious to the fact Hope just pointed them out.

“This is gonna be a long night,” Hope muttered to herself.

 

“Allie hurry up! We’re going to be late!” Tobin stated as she checked the time “Dinner reservations are for 7:30, it’s 7:30 right now!”

Kelley fiddled on the side with her phone unbeknownst to what was about to go down. As far as she was concerned Tobin made dinner reservations for the three of them at some swanky restaurant ‘to catch up’.

“Chill Tobs, prepping for a night out is an art form” Allie replied as she tousled her hair in the mirror.

Tobin began to grow nervous as she and Alex made the plan to go quickly but now the three of them were going to be late and she wasn’t sure how effective the girl would be at stalling. She sent a quick text hoping it would give Alex some reassurance.

All of dinner, Alex kept looking at the door expecting Tobin and Allie to walk in, but every time she checked she was disappointed. Finally, just as they were finishing dessert, she got a text from Tobin.

 

**Running late, sorry.. :/ Allie took forever.**

 

Alex held in a groan. It was too late now. Dinner was over and Servando was getting ready to pay for the check. But before she replied, Servando caught her attention.

“So I guess I take you home now,” he said coolly.

The striker flashed him a mysterious smile, an idea quickly coming to mind. “We can go to that new club down the street.”

Servando returned her smile. “I like your thinking, beautiful.”

Alex did her best not to cringe. “Mhmm, so do I,” she replied before texting Tobin and Hope.

 

**Going to club down the street. Meet us there.**

 

Tobin looked down at the text from Alex with the change of plans.

“Hey guys how about we just go to this club down the street from the restaurant instead? We missed our reservation anyways?” She suggested to the car.

“Good idea!” Allie chimed in as she changed the direction of the car.

“Could be fun!” Kelley added as she was texting Hope and being vague about where she was and who she was with.

 

Alex found herself on the dance floor with Servando in front of her and all she could worry about was if Tobin would get here in time and how she would even find Tobin. She knew Hope was standing by at the bar while Sydney and Kristie were doing the same, with Sydney of course downing a drink. Hope seemed to be impatient, waiting for Alex’s so-called plan to go to action. Her attention was now mostly on her phone, allowing Sydney and Kristie to do as they please.

“And this is why I hardly go out in public with you two alone,” Hope deadpanned.

“You love us, Hopey!” Sydney stated.

“Right,” Hope muttered.

 

Just as the blue-eyed striker started to lose hope, she turned her head as Servando’s hands still wouldn’t pull away from her waist to find Tobin along with Allie and someone else she recognized, but not by name. Alex made eye contact with Tobin and immediately regretted doing so because Servando’s hands were still on her waist and hers were resting on his shoulders. They were probably closer than they needed to be, but Alex had been so freaked out about messing up that she didn’t even notice.

“Hey,” she said over the music to Servando, looking away quickly before Tobin could react. She bit her lip, mentally apologizing to Tobin about what she was going to say. “Look at that girl, she’s such a slut.”

“Who?” Sevando asked, turning to look. It took him a second to recognize her. “Oh…” he said slowly. “Uh yeah, totally. You’re hotter,” he smirked and Alex held in a gag.

As soon as Tobin walked into the crowded club she could still spot Alex almost immediately. She was about to smile until she saw Servando’s hands all over her girl’s waist, and even worse Alex’s were on his shoulders. She saw her point over to the three of them and Servando looked over as well but seemingly turned his attention back to Alex. Knowing Tobin had to get Allie to spot the two of them she called out “Hey you want to go dance?!” to her two friends who were looking everywhere but where they needed to look.

“Why so eager Toby? It’s like you almost like dancing now?” Allie said with a laugh as she began to dance her way into the mass beckoning her friends to join.

It was dark, and sweaty, and hard to comprehend much of anything that was going on thanks to the blaring music. Tobin knew they were dancing close to Alex and Servando and it was only a matter of a few people between them. She whipped her head around to find Alex’s eyes fixated on her as she embraced Servando. She thought she saw her mouth the words ‘Get over here now’ so she moved her way to the other side of Allie and Kelley and pushed them in the direction of Alex. She must have pushed a little too hard as Allie went flying into the back of Servando. Tobin held her breath with what was about to happen next.

When Allie ran into Servando, it forced him to let go of Alex which was more than okay with her at that point. He’d been too close for too long and all Alex really wanted was Tobin dancing with her, like they did when they first kissed.

But that had to wait. She held her breath for what was coming before looking at Hope, but Hope was focused on someone else.

“What the hell?” Servando said as he turned around. His eyes widened. “Oh….”

“What the hell Tob-” Allie began as she turned around to apologize to whoever she just fell into. “Servando?! What are yo- Who’s this?” Allie yelled already mad and getting angrier as her eyes fell on wide-eyed Alex.

Alex knew she had to play her part or else it wouldn’t completely work so she looked between Servando and Allie, placing a hand on her hip. “Wait, you know her?! Who’s _she_?”

Servando turned to Alex. “No, I don’t know her!”

“You don’t know me?!” Allie shouted “Months of endlessly flirting with me and two dates later and YOU DON’T KNOW ME? OH MY GOD I’M SO STUPID”

At the commotion Kelley turned to see what was happening _Holy shit_ she thought as she knew how powerful her friend’s wrath could be. She turned to look to Tobin who was equally worried and shocked. Tobin slowly remembered that she had a part to play as well and reluctantly did as was expected causing an even bigger scene.

“Alex Morgan? You cheated on my best friend with Alex Morgan?! You dog!”

Before Alex, Servando, or Tobin could jump in again Allie went on a rampage.

“You slimy no-good piece of shi-” Before she could finish fuming someone interjected. Allie was too distracted by her raging hormones to notice who it was but Kelley suddenly grew stone cold as Hope, the Leroux girl, and some other blonde walked into the fray. Tobin suddenly regretted all of the plan as she saw the three rivals approaching.

It was Sydney - no surprise - that was the first to speak as the trio approach. “Wait, what the actual fuck is going on here?!”

Alex did her best to look pissed, but she was more in shock at how Allie had gone off. “He fucking took me out, but he was already dating her!” she pointed to Allie.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Kristie glared at Servando.

Servando was still trying to process Allie’s rage. “This is so not what it looks like.”

“Aw come on,” Sydney groaned. “You’re a douche. And to think I was rooting for you! And I let her borrow my dress too!”

Alex suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at Sydney. She opened her mouth to speak, but once again Allie beat her to it.

“First of all… WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? YOU FUCKING DICK, DON’T CALL ME EVER AGAIN” Allie shouted as she started to make her way outside of the club purposely pushing hard into Alex on the way out prompting a “What the hell” from one of her teammates. Tobin and Kelley gave glares to Servando as they followed their fuming friend. Tobin bumped into Alex on the way out , as much as she didn’t want to play the part anymore she knew she had to.

“Watch it Morgan, You and the circus here better take it somewhere else”

Alex bit the inside of her cheek, not even bothering to reply because Tobin was already following Kelley and a very angry Allie Long out of the club. She knew their hatred for each other was still supposed to be going on, but she was still not in the mood for the rivalry.

Hope watched them, leave, eyes on a specific defender.

“Are you going to let her talk to you like that?!” Sydney asked, a little buzzed from her drinks.

Alex shrugged, an annoyed look on her face. “That blonde girl already ruined my night and Servando’s a douchebag. I’m not in the mood to start anything.”

“You never let her talk without having the last word!” Sydney argued.

“Syd…” Kristie muttered, looking worriedly at Alex and then Hope.

But it was no use, Sydney was already making her way out the door.

“Oh here we go,” Hope groaned, following Sydney with Kristie and Alex on her heels.

Sydney burst through the door and looked around until she found Tobin, Allie and Kelley a few feet away, walking to Tobin’s car. “Hey Heath! You think you’re off the hook, smart ass? Maybe you should watch out for blondie’s temper, can’t have that one the field unless you want to play down a game!”

Allie whipped her head at the smart-ass comment , she was ready to punch something really hard and this Leroux chick wasn’t helping “Who the hell do you think you are anyways? You think you’re better than us?!”

“Oh no,” Sydney laughed, rolling her eyes. “I _know_ I’m better than you!”

Hope exited from the doors with Alex and Kristie still behind her in time to catch the last of Sydney’s words. “Oh shit.”

“Hey Leroux! Last time I saw that shirt it had my soda spilled all over it, looked better then.” Ashlyn stated as she and Ali walked over upon spotting their teammates.

Kelley saw Hope come out of the club and she did everything to keep from running into her protective arms. She just gave her a look of ‘This isn’t good’. Tobin caught Alex’s eye as she made her way over , the both of them realizing how wrong their original plan went, and how it was about to blow up in their faces.

Hope gave Kelley the most subtle nod, but knew the smaller girl would catch it anyway. She hissed into Alex’s ear. “Perfect plan, Al.”

Alex’s jaw set as the words came out of Hope’s mouth. “Thanks Hope,” Alex muttered sarcastically before walking over to Sydney. One look at Tobin and she knew she’d screwed up big time.

“Yeah Harris?” Sydney asked, her voice rising. “Well at least I fucking pay attention to where I’m going!”

“Sydney,” Alex said, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

Sydney shook her off. “No!” she shouted.

Kristie ran over to them. “Syd, we need to go home.”

“Yeah run along home with your whore of a mother!” Allie spat as she glared at Alex

Alex’s head whipped to Allie, eyes narrowing at her. “What did you just say?!”

“You heard me, but i’ll gladly repeat it for you grandma…” She snarkily said as she gave Ashlyn a high five.

Once again, Hope’s protective instincts kicked in at the jab at Alex. “At least Alex wasn’t cheated on,” Hope pointed out in an unusually calm voice.

“Shut it Solo, Don’t pretend to care now...as I recall you walked away from your own teammate the other day….no use trying to be the hero here” Ashlyn stated matter-of-factly.

Hope clenched her teeth. “Don’t you fucking go there, Harris.”

Kristie was the only one out of her teammates not saying a word. She was just watching each of her teammates, waiting for who would snap first and she had a feeling it would be Sydney.

Kelley felt a wrenching in her gut at Hope getting involved in the fight but she couldn’t help but input her own say as she listened to Ashlyn’s words. Adrenaline was pumping through her as the rival enemy Kelley came out instead of the cute and adorable girlfriend Hope came to know her as.

“Walking away from a teammate...that’s pretty low, even for you keeper” Kelley directed to Hope challenging her steely eyes.

Surprise took over on the inside, but on the outside, Hope’s steel blue eyes trained on Kelley. She wasn’t expecting Kelley to add on, especially not towards her. She knew it was because of the situation they’d been put in and everything going on, but she glared anyway.

“At least I know my time and place,” she said, looking back at Ashlyn. “Trying to start a fucking fight in the middle of a mall. What are you?”

Tobin had enough, as much as being with Alex had helped her look past the rivalry, the old flame was lit again. “Fair to say, Leroux most likely started it..” She then turned her attention to Alex “You should really learn how to train your dog, or at least get a muzzle for her, might keep her out of trouble. Or maybe you’re not even capable of that..” Tobin immediately regretted what she said once she saw the hurt in Alex’s eyes. She had gone too far and she knew it yet given the moment her body was unable to move or back down from where she stood.

Alex couldn’t believe what had just come out of Tobin’s mouth. Everyone else had a supposed reason to fight: they hated each other. But not her and Tobin. She thought that now that her and Tobin were together, they’d chose not to attack and instead just let it drop. She was so wrong. The look of hurt in her expression quickly passed as she tried to regain her stand in the conversation. “Oh, like you’re one to talk,” she scoffed. “Did you not see Long go ape shit in the club earlier?”

Before Tobin could say anything else she felt Allie brush past her from behind and push Alex right back into Hope. “WANT TO SEE ME GO APE SHIT MORGAN?!” the girl shouted in a frenzy.

“DON’T FUCKING TOUCH HER!” Hope screamed at Allie, holding Alex by her arms to keep her upright.

“OH I’LL FUCKING DESTROY HER!” Allie said as she began to tear away to continue the fight but was held back by Tobin.

“Too far!” Tobin said putting up a strong arm to hold back Allie. She turned to look back at Alex and Hope but before her eyes could get there she met a fist with a strong conviction behind it. Tobin cried out in pain as she fell to the hard ground holding her now bleeding face.

 


	7. Part 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rematch is nearing, the rivalry is rising and some things may not be able to hold together like they have before.

Alex’s eyes widened and she felt a gasp come out of her mouth, but she didn’t even hear it. All she was focused on was the fact her girl was on the floor bleeding. “Oh my god, Tobin!”

“Damn…” Sydney muttered, shaking her fist in pain. “That hurt.”

“Oh your hand hurts? Let’s see what else hurts after I’m done with you!” Ashlyn shouted as she started to make her way to Sydney.

This time Kriegs stepped in to restrain her teammate “C’mon Ash, She’s not worth it” she said as she struggled to hold the strong goalkeeper.

“SYDNEY!” Kristie yelped, scolding the forward.

“What the fuck was that?” Hope demanded, turning to Sydney.

“I was going for the blonde,” Sydney murmered, still shaking her hand out.

“OH, WEll COME ON OVER THEN DOGGIE, LET’S PLAY FETCH. MY FIST AND YOUR FACE” Allie exclaimed boiling over in the moment. Both sides were too caught up in the moment to realize Alex had run over to Tobin’s side.

Alex squirmed out of Hope’s grasp, not even thinking about what she was doing. She kneeled down next to Tobin, even though her knees were making contact with the concrete and it hurt; She didn’t care to notice. “Tobin,” she said softly, covering her mouth. She reached into her clutch purse, desperately digging for a tissue or something to clean Tobin’s face and finally found a pack. She tugged at it until one came free and pressed it against all the blood. “God, I’m sorry,” she whispered, noticing no one was even paying attention to them.

“Get off of me!” Tobin snapped uncharacteristically. She had every reason to be mad, but she never meant to take it out on Alex. Tobin jumped up to get in the middle of Ashlyn and Sydney who were about to go at each other and strongly pushed Ashlyn away.

Alex was shocked at the tone Tobin used, and how she reacted. She stood, shaking a little. So much was happening in seconds and she wasn’t sure she could even keep up anymore.

“Let’s go” Tobin muttered as she began to walk away not bothering to look back at Alex.

Seeing their captain bleeding, they decided it was indeed enough for one night “This isn’t fucking over  you hear?!” Ashlyn spat as she pushed Ali off of her finally and heatedly followed Tobin.

Allie shook her head as she nastily spat at Alex’s feet before following her teammates.

Hope was in the middle of holding Sydney back with Kristie, but when she saw Alex staring at nothing specific and shaking, she immediately walked over to her. As she passed Kelley, she shook her head as if to say ‘This is too much’. “Go check on Tobin,” she whispered as she passed, knowing no one would pay attention to the exchange.

“Alex,” Hope said, placing her hands on either shoulder. When Alex didn’t respond, she pulled the forward into a tight hug. She could feel the girl shaking now and all she wanted was to make it stop.

“Say it,” Alex said in a weak voice. “You were right.”

Hope shook her head, still hugging Alex. “This isn’t the time to say ‘I told you so’,” she sighed. “Come on, let’s get you home, showered and in bed.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded, not in the mood to argue or say otherwise.

Hope turned to Kristie, who was whispering words to calm Sydney down. “Mewie, take her home and get her to bed, okay?”

Kristie nodded. “On it!” she called back, guiding Sydney to the car.

 

The next morning, Alex woke up to find a glass of orange juice and a pop tart sitting by her bed with a note. She leaned over, squinting to read it as she was still trying to wake herself up.

 

**Sorry Al, had to go somewhere early. Enjoy ur breakfast kid. - Hope**

 

Alex smiled, happy to have someone who was always looking out for her no matter what. She slowly sat up as the previous night’s events returned to her.

“Such a fucking mess,” she muttered before reaching over and taking a sip of her orange juice.

What really worried her the most was Tobin. Tobin, who agreed to go with the plan, who tried to keep the peace at first, but in the end ended up adding fuel to the fire and got hurt.

Whenever Tobin used to snap and give snarky comments to Alex or her teammates, it didn’t do anything except make Alex want to snark back. But that was different. That was when they believed all they could do was hate each other. Now, recalling what Tobin said took Alex by surprise. For most of the week, all she’d heard from Tobin was sweet nothings and smart ass comments that made her laugh. To hear something as bad as what she’d heard come out of Tobin last night was practically unbelievable.

Although she was still upset and honestly a little freaked out by Tobin’s performance last night, she was still worried about her. The injury to her face didn’t seem very forgiving. So Alex grabbed her phone and dialed Tobin’s number.

After countless rings, the call went to voicemail. Alex was debating on whether or not she should just hang up when it beeped, signaling for her to leave a message.

“I uh...Hey,” she said awkwardly. “I just wanted to check on you after last night. I’m really sorry about Sydney...actually, I’m sorry about everything from last night. I shouldn’t have dragged you into it all. It could’ve been avoided.” She paused for a moment, thinking of what else to say. “Uh...call me, I guess? Bye Tobin.” She quickly hung up, running a hand through her hair. There was so much damage done last night she didn’t know where to start.

 

Kelley stayed over at Tobin’s to help her clean up her face after the run in. The two sat at Tobin’s kitchen counter the next morning, both not knowing what to say after the events of the previous evening.

The silence was interrupted as Tobin’s phone began to ring in the other room.

Kelley jumped up to go get it for her friend but by the time she got there, the phone stopped ringing.

“Yo Tobs, it says you have a new voicemail” Kelley said as she made her way back to the kitchen.

“Listen to it” Tobin said assuming a call from Alex was the last thing that would happen at a time like this. Tobin didn’t bother to pay attention to her friend’s reaction until she heard her gasp as a wild eagerness came to her eyes.

“Who was it?” Tobin asked looking pathetic as ever with her bandaged face, still swollen.

“I-It was Alex? Morgan? W-What the hell?” Kelley wondered confused as to what all of this meant.

Tobin swallowed hard trying to think of an excuse as to why her supposed rival would be calling her but nothing convincing came to mind.

“W-What did she say?” Tobin questioned scared of what she might have said.

“You listen..and you tell me” Kelley surprisingly ordered calmly.

Tobin gingerly took the phone and listened to Alex’s message, she closed her eyes knowing what had to be done.

“Alex and I…..are together..well after last night I’m not so sure about anything anymore but uh yeah.. that’s the truth..”

“You mean, Together together?!” Kelley exclaimed in disbelief.

“Yeah Kell, I mean together together.” Tobin sternly stated obviously frustrated that she had to repeat herself.

“Whoa...does anyone else know?! I mean what are you guys going to do? How did this even?!” Kelley rambled on.

“I don’t know Kell! Okay I don’t know and frankly I’m not in the mood to talk about it right now, so can we just drop it?”

Kelley painfully watched her best friend lash out. It wasn’t the Tobin she knew, yet she could tell the girl was distracted, it was always obvious.

“Hey” Kelley said as she put a hand on Tobin’s shoulder “It’s okay Tobs, I’m sorry, I know it’s not easy..I’m always here for you though.”

Tobin let out a sigh “I know, thanks KO”

“Are you going to call her back?” Kelley asked

Tobin shook her head “I’m not ready to talk to her yet..” She stated.

  
  


By the end of the day, Alex’s voicemail was still left unanswered and it worried the forward. Tobin never did anything like this. Her texts and calls were always answered, and if it was really late the midfielder would apologize. She wasn’t okay with leaving things the way they were. She just wanted Tobin with her and laughing about something stupid, not avoiding her because of what happened last night thanks to the stupid rivalry. So she texted the girl.

 

**Tobs, we really need to talk. You can’t run when things get bad every single time. No one can. Come to my place? No interruptions this time, I swear.**

 

She sent it hoping she’d get some sort of response.

 

Tobin was lying on her bed when she heard her phone buzz with a new message. She read it a couple times before sitting up. Alex was right. They had to talk and it was true, she couldn’t keep running from her problems as if they would go away if she ran fast enough. She put on her shoes and pulled a nike hoodie over her head. She grabbed her keys and caught her reflection as she walked out the door. The left side of her face was busted , her eye was swollen and the cut under her cheekbone was going to leave a scar. She grimaced at herself but decided she needed to go to Alex’s anyways.

 

It was a long drive. Too long, Tobin decided for her to be left alone with her rampant thoughts. She pulled into the Morgan’s driveway and hesitantly walked up the steps. She knocked on the door hoping she would be brave enough to not run away.

Alex hopped up, praying that Tobin was the one at her door and not anyone else, especially not Sydney. She opened the door and smiled at first, but then gasped. “Oh my god, your face!” she exclaimed, pulling Tobin into her house.

Tobin let out a tired and knowing laugh “Yeah … my face. I’m sorry about last night.” She stated not knowing what else to say.

Alex shifted her weight, nodding. “I’m sorry too.”

Tobin finally looked into Alex’s eyes at her apology. She missed that gaze. But the pain in her face brought her back to reality. “Lex...what are we even doing? How can this ever work? I mean look at me! I have a scar on my face now reminding me everyday of why we shouldn’t be together…” Tobin let out finally allowing her doubts and insecurities to be out in the open.

Receiving no initial response Tobin continued “It seems like we tend to bring out the best and the worst in each other..and I-I just don’t want to hurt you anymore.”

“Hurt me?” Alex asked as if that was ridiculous. “Tobin, you’re the one with the real injuries here. If I had just kept Sydney under control. Like I can’t even do that…” she mumbled the last part without meaning to, Tobin’s words from last night coming back to her.

Tobin cringed at Alex’s last comment, a reminder that words could hurt just as much as a punch in the face. “You see, I never should have said that...it’s like I couldn’t control myself or something. I just- you deserve more Lex, you do. Don’t settle for me.”

“Stop,” Alex said suddenly, looking at Tobin. ‘Don’t you dare say that, Tobin. You know damn well if this rivalry never existed you and I would be perfect together. Hell, we are now. I’ve only dated you for less than a week, but I’m not letting you go because you’re scared,” she stated, crossing her arms.

Tobin painfully laughed realizing the conversation was going nowhere. “Kelley knows about ‘us’” She muttered.

“Wait, what?” Alex asked, hoping she didn’t hear Tobin right.

“Kelley heard your voicemail on my phone this morning..she won’t say anything though...that’s the least of our worries, I think.”

Though Tobin seemed sure that Kelley wasn’t going to say anything, Alex wasn’t as comforted as she should have been. She hardly even knew Kelley. Hell, she had a major problem imagining if Hope or Sydney found out about her and Tobin. But Tobin was Kelley’s best friend, so she didn’t question it. “I...Tobin, what are we going to do?”

“I’m in over my head Alex...I’m really in no position to be giving any answers right now” Tobin confessed.

“Our coach is going to be on our asses this week until we play you guys again, and I don’t know how often we can meet up like this.”

Alex bit her lip. “I know, same. We play you in less than a week.”

“You know we both can’t win….once we hit that field, it’s still you versus me. Even if we are together..”

“No holding back,” Alex reminded her. “Never hold back on the field.”

“Never” Tobin said finally letting out the faintest of smiles. I’ll talk to you later Lex, Good night” Tobin said as she gently kissed the girl on the cheek and made her way to leave.

The striker managed a small smile in return. “Good night Tobs,” she answered. “Wait...so what are we doing?” She didn’t want to ask, but she had to if she wanted to get anywhere in this relationship.

“We’re walking a fine line” Tobin vaguely stated leaving the girl with a reassuring smirk.

 

The next day was the first day back to school since the club incident from the other night. Tobin tried her best to explain what happened to her face without actually telling everyone that she got decked by their rival school. Kelley sympathetically tried to change the subject best she could at lunch as the whole team tried to get more than just ‘I fell’ from Tobin. It was no use though as Ashlyn and Allie made their way over to the team’s usual table.

“Hey Tobs, How’s your fac- Oh my god!” Ashlyn exclaimed as she saw the damage left from Sydney’s right hook.

“I swear..that girl is going to regret this” Allie added as she patted Tobin on the back.

Christen jumped right on Ashlyn and Allie knowing they would dish the story.

Tobin knew the situation was hopeless, whatever dignity she had left, would surely be taken as Allie was obliviously re-creating the other night.

“And so that dick Servando had Captain Ass on his arm, and then once I saw him, he totally denied even knowing who I was! Then we run into Thing 1 and Thing 2, plus that bitchy looking keeper, and they follow us out into the parking lot for a little ‘chat’. Then they think it’s okay to start talking shit so ..well things got a little physical. Bottom line, I got fed up with Captain Ass and pushed her back into her place, then that Leroux girl tries to punch me but clips Tobs instead...I mean the nerve?!” Allie finished clearly hyped up as she relived the night.

“WOW” The rest of the table almost said in unison.

“Tobs! are you okay?” Lauren asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry Tobs, We’re going whoop their sorry asses in a few days..No one touches our cap!” Christen declared high fiving Allie.

“Greatttt” Tobin mumbled unenthusiastically. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to win. She wanted to beat Alex’s team more than anything. But she had no idea what the game was going to do to her relationship with her own teammates and especially with Alex.

 

Practice was intense the next couple of days as a new feeling overcame Tobin. Her position as captain meant more to her than ever before, and she knew that she couldn’t make the same mistakes she did last time. Alex never left her thoughts but she knew that there would be a time for them, yet now was not that time. Whenever she was feeling unmotivated on the pitch she looked to one of her teammates who each had the same fire in their eyes. This game was going to be theirs, each girl believed it, and Tobin couldn’t let her relationship get in the way of that.

Tobin left the locker room to see Kelley waiting by her car for her.

“How’s it looking cap?” Her freckled friend asked.

“We’re looking ready out there, that’s for sure” Tobin stated.

“No I mean how’s it lookin?” Kelley repeated.

“Oh I mean I think the swelling has gone down a bit, don’t you think?”

“No! Tobin, How’s it looking?” Kelley asked one more time.

“I’d appreciate it if you could just tell me what we’re talking about right now?” Tobin said getting more and more confused.

“You and Alex?” Kelley hissed quietly.

“Oh” Tobin nodded finally understanding

“I don’t know, we’re fine, haven’t talked much in the last couple of days but I was hoping to see her before the game..” Tobin let off at the end as if coming to a realization.

“I’m worried for you” Kelley admitted

“Me? Why?”

“I know how you get on the field when Morgan is there… but now that you’re dating-” Kelley started

“Yeah? Nothing’s going to change on the field Kell just because we’re together now.” Tobin said sure of herself.

“Exactly and that’s what worries me”

“Being with Alex doesn't change my responsibilities or allegiance to this team..you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Okay, just be careful okay? It’s a big game, sure..but there’s a lot more at stake here than just a trophy or a title you know?” Kelley said as she walked back to where her own car was parked.

Tobin let out a heavy sigh as she got in her car and leaned forward on her steering wheel. Kelley was more than right.

 

“Sydney!” Alex called in the hall the second she saw her teammate in the hallway.

“Hi Alex!” she waved, still in her normal, upbeat mood.

“Don’t ‘Hi Alex’ me,” Alex snapped, making her way over. She crossed her arms, staring at the other striker.

Kristie had been laughing at something, but it died down along with Yael’s at the tone in Alex’s voice. Hope had been calmly typing away at her laptop to finish some last-minute homework, but now looked up seeing a very serious Alex Morgan.

Sydney raised her eyebrows. “Woah, what’s gotten you in a mood?”

“What the fuck was the other night?” Alex asked, glaring at her. “You think what you did was okay?”

“Aw Al it wasn’t that serious,” Sydney reasoned.

“Wasn’t that serious?!” Alex exclaimed, looking at her best friend in disbelief. “You punched a girl on our rival team. By the look of that punch her face is no doubt messed up!”

“Well, I was drunk so--”

“God, you’re so fucking lucky none of us have gone to coach about this!” Alex added angrier at Sydney for punching her girl than anything. “We need you for the game at the end of this week and it won’t do you any good if she hears about it.”

Sydney’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”

“You’re right, I wouldn’t,” the captain nodded. “but you need to clean your fucking act up.”

Kristie exchanged a look with Yael, who was confused. Alex had been angry before, but not like this. Not when she was in a captain’s position, scolding a player for misbehaving.

“What happened that night is never to be brought up again, do you understand?” Alex asked Kristie and Sydney carefully. “No more fighting with the enemy. If you see them in public at all this week - or ever - just walk away. Don’t start anything, and if they try to start anything with you just walk away or else I’m going to give you a living hell every damn day at practice.”

Hope looked at Alex, hiding a smile because she was impressed at the younger girl’s words.

“From now on, all the fighting’s happening on the field,” the forward instructed. “No more bullshit words exchanged. You teach them a lesson with your feet not your god damned mouth. We can beat this team, I know we can. I just need to make sure you’re all focused here. It’s soccer, not a fist fight.”

Sydney moved away from Alex a little, surprised at everything that was coming out of the girl’s mouth. For the first time in a long time, she found herself very intimidated at Alex, who was giving her an unwavering glare as she delivered the speech.

“Am I clear?” Alex asked, looking at her teammates.

Hope was the only one who wasn’t speechless. “You got it, Captain,” she winked.

Alex found it in herself to smile just a little. “Good. Make sure my message gets to the other girls. I’ll see you at practice ladies,” she said before walking away.

 

“Aw Whit come on! You should be able to block my shot with ease,” Alex insisted. She jogged over to the defender who had let Alex’s shot slip right through her legs and towards Hope, who of course caught it in time.

“She’s right,” Coach called out. “Anticipate her moves, Engen!”

Whitney nodded, wiping her face.

 

“Are you kidding me?!” Hope called out, the ball safely in her hands. “Sydney Leroux I swear to God your shots are better than that!”

“Hey! I tried!” Sydney shot back.

“Try _harder_ ,” Hope told her, throwing the ball back onto the field.

 

“What the _hell_ was that?!” Coach cried out, looking at the girls. “30 push ups, right now. Go.”

 

As the week progressed, each girl was getting pushed harder than they ever had been. This game was make or break for all of them. They weren’t settling for another loss anytime especially not to their rivals. This time, there was going to be a winner and there was going to be a loser. Alex watched as each of her teammates show a new energy in them that hadn’t been there before.

Often times, Tobin entered her mind as she went through practice, but she had to do her best to push those thoughts back because thinking about Tobin was her weakness. They were dating, but soccer always came first. She told Tobin neither of them were to hold back, and if she held back the slightest, who knew what could happen. There was a time for Tobin, but it wasn’t during practice and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be at the game. If any of her teammates saw her falter in a step or re-think a shot or having possession just because Tobin was after her, they’d rethink everything. As a captain, she had a duty to carry her team no matter what. It was team before anything and it was a sacrifice Alex had to make, but it was okay because she knew Tobin was going to make the same sacrifice too.

 

The big game was the next day and Tobin had barely spoken to Alex more than some texts back and forth for the past few days. She wanted to see her girl but wondered if it was too risky to do right before the game. She was in the park sitting under her usual tree. The thought of the night when Alex plopped down on the other side came back to her and she couldn’t help the growing smile on her face. Despite her original doubts she sent the text anyways.

 

**I miss you, wanna meet me for some pickup in the park?**

 

Alex wasn’t even doing her homework; She was juggling the ball around her room. She was really missing her girlfriend, but she wasn’t even sure if Tobin wanted to meet up the day before the game. She’d planned on asking the girl before now, but time had slipped away from her. When her phone beeped, she stopped her juggling to check who it was. A grin found her face as she read the message, and she immediately typed a reply.

 

**I miss you more. Yes, meet at your tree in 20?**

 

Tobin laughed at the notion of the tree being hers but was happier at the first part of the reply.

 

**Your side or my side? I’d say yours but I think mine gets a little more sun : )**

 

Alex was smiling like an idiot when she received the next message from Tobin, her worries all gone.

 

**Hmm...yours. I like sun :)**

 

Tobin was resting against the tree with her eyes closed when she felt a coldness on her body. She knew someone was blocking the sun. She looked up to see Alex standing above her, the sun shining behind her casting rays around her. “Oh hey cap!” Tobin said as she jumped up and looked around before giving Alex a quick kiss.

Alex smiled down at Tobin in return. “Hi Captain, how have you been this week?”

“The week’s been pretty hard….soccer’s been the easy part, missing you has been torture though” Tobin coolly said  with ease as if the weirdness of the weekend had never happened.

The forward laughed softly. “I feel the same way.” She placed her hands on Tobin’s waist, pulling her closer. “I miss you so much Tobs,” she whispered, looking at Tobin’s lips.

Tobin leaned in close to Alex’s face, their lips almost touching before she pulled back clearly confusing the forward. “Score a goal against me and you’ll get your kiss Morgan” Tobin cheekily said as she picked up the soccer ball and playfully tossed it to Alex as she began to run towards the soccer field up the path.

Alex gaped at her girlfriend, barely catching the ball as she watched Tobin run off. “Jerk!” she called out, but recomposed herself as she ran after Tobin. “You’ll be kissing me in no time, Heath!” she promised, dropped the soccer ball at her feet once she caught up.

“You seem pretty sure of yourself there cap, we’ll see how you do one-on-one” Tobin playfully challenged, her bright smile not escaping her face.

The forward giggled, rolling her eyes. “It’s on, babe” she smirked as she began to dribble the ball.

Tobin smirked as Alex skillfully began to dribble towards her. The striker looked confident but Tobin was also confident in her abilities. Seizing a small opportunity Tobin swiftly managed to gain control of the ball, and began to move towards her goal.

Alex frowned when Tobin took the ball from her, but she knew that she was always going to be the faster one. So she took off after Tobin, coming out of nowhere to cut her off and steal the ball. She tried her best not to laugh as she swept the ball away from Tobin’s feet after a second of challenging her and took off once again. She knew she had to be fast enough so that Tobin couldn’t catch her.

Tobin smiled as Alex stole the ball back, she turned to try and catch up to the girl but it was no use. A few seconds later and Alex held up her hands in victory as the ball hit the back of the net.

Alex laughed, holding her hands up in success. “What’d I tell you?” she asked Tobin, who was still running up to meet her. “There’s a reason they used to call me baby horse, you know.”

Tobin ran up to Alex, grabbed her waist and pulled her into a kiss not bothering to say anything.

Noticing the girl was shocked by the forwardness of the move Tobin smiled.

“Let’s see how fast you can gallop this time” Tobin challenged as she nutmegged the girl and started taking off towards her own goal again.

Alex was still trying to recover from the kiss as Tobin took off. After her shock was over, she laughed, running after the girl. “Cheater!”

Tobin saw Alex catching up to her fast. She smirked knowing this time she had to be a little bit more tricky to keep possession of the ball. As the girl came up beside her she suddenly stopped and changed direction throwing Alex off a bit as she regained her bearings. It was all Tobin needed to get past the girl and score her own goal. “There’s a reason they used to call me the nutmeg queen, you know.” Tobin said mimicking Alex’s words from before.

As she watched Tobin switch direction it took her a second too long to react, which she knew was a second too long for Tobin to score. She rolled her eyes as Tobin mocked her, but smile anyway as she caught up to the girl, wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her towards the striker. “Fine. You win this time,” she admitted leaning in and kissing the girl.

“Hey 1-1 I don’t win, I was just getting even!” Tobin explained as she kissed the girl back.

“Just shut up and kiss me,” Alex laughed, pressing her lips to the midfielder’s again to get her to stop talking.

 

Hope was sitting in the passenger’s seat of Kelley’s car. She knew better than to be with the girl the day before the big game, but she literally hadn’t talked to Kelley all week because of practice. She watched the girl as she sang along to the radio, a smile on the keeper’s face. Moments like these proved why it was worth seeing her girlfriend the day before they played each other. It was worth it; Kelley was worth it. She turned her head to look out the window, noticing a soccer park was in passing. She was just about to turn towards Kelley again when she spotted two people and gasped.

“Kel! The park!” she exclaimed. hitting Kelley’s arm.

Kelley was happily singing along when she felt a strong slap from her girlfriend.

“Ow, what is it?” She asked unsure what could be so urgent.

“Hey, pull into the park for a second,” Hope requested, trying to get a good look at what she saw, but they were driving too fast. “I think...I think I saw something.”

“Ugh okay, fine” Kelley said as she did what Hope requested.

“Now what are we looking at?” Kelley asked again as she parked the car.

Hope looked around for a moment until her eyes fell on two people. Her jaw dropped when she recognized the pink pre-wrapped-head. She knew that girl anywhere. “That’s….that’s Alex…” she said slowly, then looked at the other girl. It took the keeper a moment, but she gasped in realization. “Kel, she’s making out with Tobin!”

Kelley suddenly whipped her head to the direction Hope was looking. She gulped as she saw her best friend with the girl Hope considered her little sister. _Oh SHIT_ she thought as she had no idea what Hope’s reaction might be.

“Ah nah that’s not Tobin! Look I know my best friend, she would tell me if she was hooking up with Morgan..” Kelley offered hoping her girlfriend wouldn’t see right through her.

“Kelley are you blind?!” Hope exclaimed, turning to the defender. “That right there is basically a repeat of the party, except this time I’m pretty sure they’re both sober!”

“Maybe not…” Kelley softly mumbled as she began to realize there was no way to get out of telling Hope what she knew now “Hey let’s go okay, I feel like a creep just sitting here.”

“Fine,” Hope mumbled, crossing her arms. “I can’t believe this girl, what is she thinking?! And not telling _me_? Out of all people? Really?”

“Babe, calm down please” Kelley said as she pulled out of the park not wanting to get into this conversation at all.

“Wait,” Hope said suddenly turning to face Kelley. “How are you so calm about this?! Last time you were freaking out really bad!”

“I uh, I don’t know, It’s not a big deal I guess, and well I kinda already knew…” Kelley said, her voice dropping down to almost a whisper by the end.

“You _what_?” Hope never was one to freak out. But there she was, freaking out. She just witnessed Alex Morgan making out with Tobin Heath...when she was sober. Now she was to understand that her girlfriend knew about whatever was going on already and didn’t bother telling her? She was definitely freaking out now.

Kelley pulled the car over to try and explain herself. “Babe, c’mon. This Tobin/Alex thing happened like the other day, don’t be mad at me please” Kelley pleaded as she put her hand on Hope’s very tense arm.

Hope jerked away from Kelley’s touch, unable to believe what was happening. “This ‘Tobin/Alex thing’?! Are you trying to tell me it’s been going on longer than just a few seconds ago?! And you didn’t bother to say ‘Oh yeah Hope, Alex and Tobin are kind of hooking up or something’?!”

Hope’s voice was rising and Kelley began to feel smaller and smaller.

“Tobin’s my best friend, what kind of person would I be to go behind her back and tell everyone about her relationship status? Put yourself in my position!” Kelley bit back hoping to make a logical point.

Hope gave Kelley a look. “If I was in your position where Alex told me, I’d tell you because you’re Tobin’s best friend. Oh and you’re my freaking girlfriend, Kelley! How are you supposed to hide things like this from me?! You know I care about Alex!”

“It wasn’t my secret to tell Hope..” Kelley sternly stated “If you and Alex care about each other so much, why didn’t she tell you?”

“Because it’s Alex!” Hope groaned. “She’s not going to tell anyone unless it’s forced out of her and how the hell am I supposed to force it out of her if I have no clue what’s going on?!”

Kelley scoffed in frustration “God, can we move on? Hope, Tobin and Alex are secretly together, okay? If you want to be mad at me then be mad, but I’m done!” Kelley said a little winded after not taking a breath through her rant.

The keeper stared at Kelley for a long moment. They’d never fought ever, and it was taking a moment to process for both of them. “Take me home, Kel,” she finally said.

Kelley clenched her jaw as she started the car again. She wanted to cry but stopped herself knowing it wouldn’t help anything. The two sat in silence the whole ride back to Hope’s house. Both girls undoubtedly stuck in their own thoughts to say anything more.

 _How can she blame me for not telling her?  This is bullshit._ Kelley thought as she pulled in front of Hope’s house.

Hope looked at Kelley as she undid her seatbelt. “You know what? Maybe we just need a break.”

Kelley finally was able to bring herself to look at Hope as the girl let the words out.

“Maybe we do.” She said as she unlocked the door for Hope to get out.

Hope’s jaw set. She was hoping Kelley would argue and make them figure it out. She was wrong. “Good luck tomorrow,” she nodded, opening the passenger’s door and getting out.

Kelley pulled away as soon as Hope got out. She didn’t get far though before she had to stop and finally let herself cry. “Stupid, Kelley!, Stupid, stupid, stupid” She cried aloud as she hit her steering wheel.

 


	8. Part 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's game day and there's more to lose than this game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been taking longer than expected for this update! Kate and I have been busy with college and school starting up again. We're still trying to figure out schedules for writing, but thanks for being so patient with us. :) Feedback is always very much appreciated!

After her afternoon with Tobin, Alex was able to get some rest and was actually very refreshed the next morning. She knew there was no turning back now. There was going to be a victor at the end of the game, and it either had to be her or Tobin. It was her job to make sure that victory was on her side.

Everyone was shuffling around in the locker room. Ten minutes before the game was enough to send the energy around the room and to everyone. Well, that was everyone but Hope. Alex noticed the keeper was much quieter than usual, keeping to herself throughout warm ups and in the locker room, even as the game was rapidly approaching.

Slowly, Alex walked up to her after doing her visualizations. “Hope? You okay?”

Hope didn’t need to turn around to know it was Alex. Yesterday’s reality was still settling in. Her captain was with their rival captain and she broke up with her girlfriend. “I’m just getting ready for the game,” she stated, trying to get Alex off her back. She was still angry about yesterday.

“You’re never this quiet,” Alex pointed out, crossing her arms. “Come on, Hope. Talk to me.”

At the words coming out of Alex’s mouth, the keeper’s steel eyes met ocean-blue as she turned to face the forward. “Talk to you?” She scoffed, rolling her eyes.

The younger girl looked confused and kind of freaked out at Hope’s sudden bitch attitude. Alex couldn’t think of anything she’d done wrong lately. “Yeah...why wouldn’t you? We always talk to each other.”

“Hey Alex,” Hope started, bitterness coming from her words. “How exactly did you know Allie Long was going to be at the club last weekend?”

Panic began to set into Alex. She never had a plan for explaining this. She thought it was all over. “Um…Well, I had a source tell me that’s where she was going to be…” Alex said, stuttering a little as she tried to find the right cover up.

“Oh,” Hope nodded like she understood. “Sources as in other people, right? Like your girlfriend?” she glared.

Alex’s jaw dropped, she looked around. Thankfully no one was listening to them. “Like my what?” Alex asked, looking at Hope.

“You know,” the older girl went on, watching Alex squirm. She knew the girl was uncomfortable but she wasn’t ready to let her off the hook. “Your girlfriend. Tobin Heath? Captain of the rival team? The one we’re playing today?”

Alex immediately sat down next to Hope, grabbing her arm. “Shh!” she shushed, hoping no one would try to listen in. “How did you know?”

Hope wriggled off Alex’s hand, shooting her a look. “Making out in the middle of a park, really?”

Alex looked down guiltily. “Oh,” she mumbled.

“Seriously, Alex?” Hope asked, chastising the girl. “You know better than that! And how could you not tell me? I get why you didn’t tell everyone else, even Syd. But me?”

“Because you’d act worse than this!” Alex explained, sighing. “You’d hate me, Hope. You probably hate me now.”

“I don’t hate you,” Hope said quickly. “but I don’t think you understand how angry I am at you. You’re so fucking lucky we have this game for me to let my anger out or else you’d totally get it, Morgan.”

Alex bit her lip, knowing Hope was definitely going to be going hard on the field. “I’m sorry, Hope.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix things,” Hope glared at her.

It was wrong of her to do, but she was also mad at Alex because indirectly, she caused her break up with Kelley. And now Hope had to see Kelley today on a field for at least 90 minutes and pretend nothing was wrong.

“I know,” the striker mumbled, then looked up. “Wait,” she said slowly. “How did you see us at the park? That’s on the completely opposite side of town.”

Hope got up, steel blue eyes piercing into Alex. “You’re not the only one with sources,” she spat before stomping away.

Alex was left confused. “What the fuck does that mean…?”

“Ladies, let’s go!” Coach called for them to circle up.

Thoughts of anything but soccer were pushed to the back of everyone’s mind, especially Alex and Hope. They listened for the starting eleven and special instructions for each player. Once all was said and done, everyone’s eyes turned to Alex.

“Look,” Alex started, knowing this was possibly the most important thing the girls were going to need before they went out there. “It’s been a rough week for a lot of us. I don’t think I’ve ever seen us practice as hard as we did this week. Use everything you’ve learned today. Whit, I need you anticipating moves. Syd, I need you beating out their defenders and their keeper - no smart ass comments,” she warned, knowing very well that Ashlyn Harris was going into that goal.

“Yes ma’am,” Syd mumbled.

“Watch out for a few of their players, they get rough,” Alex said, remembering Allie’s wrath and the way the girl pushed her. “but by no means does that mean you start talking to them. I don’t want any fights anymore. I want us to win because of the way we play, not because some gets into a fight and someone else throws a punch.”

A few mutters of agreement were made, so Alex continued.

“We can do this guys. We haven’t been working our asses off for nothing. Keep yourself in the game at all times. No distractions today. This game is ours and I know it. We move as a team,” she stated firmly. “Today’s make or break and I swear we’re going to make it. As your captain, I’m going to do my best out there to make sure we bring home a win. All or nothing. No holding back,” she finished, looking at each girl in the locker room.

“So are we gonna kick ass or what?” Kristie smirked.

Alex laughed. “Hands in, ladies.”

As they chanted, Alex couldn’t shake the feeling of Hope’s eyes burning into her skin. It was going to be a long game.

 

Tobin was feeling great as she got up the next day. She was falling for Alex more and more everytime she was with her. It was a hard fact to live with, especially on that specific day, game day. She knew as soon as she stepped onto that field, Alex and her were nothing more than opponents. She forced her thoughts of the blue eyed striker into the back of her head as she walked into the locker room to hear the pump up music already blasting.

“CAP! Game day baby!” Allie shouted from across the way.

Tobin’s smile grew wide “Gameday!” She repeated as she made her way over to her locker to change.

Everyone was clearly hyped up for the game, that was everyone but one. Tobin ran up to her best friend as warm ups concluded.

“Hey Kell, What’s up? Is everything alright?” Tobin inquired.

“I’m fine, stressed about the game is all.” Kelley said solemnly.

“It’ll be fine, we’re more than prepared for this, you know that!” Tobin cheerfully said hoping to get her friend’s energy up.

Kelley forced out a small smile “Yeah you’re right Tobs.” The smile faded as she noticed Hope walking in the opposite direction to her bench. The two made awkward eye contact before quickly turning to look somewhere else, anywhere else.

 

Tobin jumped up on the locker room bench for her usual pre-game chat which for her was usually no longer than a sentence or two. Everyone knew though that this speech was going to be different. Tobin took a few long looks at her team around her and took a deep breath.

“We made it. We made it through this season so far, we made it this past week, we made it to this moment, and we’re going to make it through this game. And we made it together. That’s what’s important. We’re not just one goal, not just one pass or one save. Whether we win or we lose, it’ll be because of a collective effort. Forget the rivalry, forget the drama, we can win this, but we don’t need that other stuff to do it. Together.” Tobin said as she got down and put her hand in the middle of the room. ‘Together’ everyone else said as they joined their hands in the middle with their captain’s.

Tobin knew that her speech, while it sounded good was just another speech. She knew that of course the rivalry would come out, the drama was surely going to be there and there was no avoiding any of that.  Nonetheless she walked out with her team confident as ever as they made their way to their bench on the sidelines. After their pep talk from their coach and a final cheer the team made their way onto the field. Tobin did her usual pre-whistle jumps and happened to make eye contact with Alex on the last one. She gave a simple nod to signify their ‘No holding back’ promise.

The last thing Tobin heard before she seemingly had the ball at her feet and was dribbling up the field was the whistle. She didn’t even have to think about soccer, her feet had grown so accustomed to maneuvering the ball that she easily got past one defender. She saw someone approaching her fast to her right, she quickly passed the ball back to Allie who was screaming that she was open. Before Allie could move the ball much of anywhere, Yael stole it away in a tricky move. Tobin changed her direction and started to run as fast as she could towards Ashlyn and the defenders to gain back control. The dark haired midfielder passed it to the girl with the crazy hair who immediately crossed it in to an incoming Alex. Tobin yelled to Ali to cover Alex but it was too late . Alex had gotten her foot on the ball. Tobin held her breath until she saw that Ashlyn has successfully deflected the threat away. Ashlyn sent the ball back to Allie who had space to move up the field thanks to the quick turnaround. Tobin saw opportunity and started to run ahead where no one was and called for the ball. But by the time she turned around the first foul was called. Allie was on the ground and Sydney was hovering above her.

Tobin knew this was trouble, she ran over immediately just in case.

“An accident huh LEROUX?!” Allie began as she moved closer to Sydney’s face.

Sydney, unable to help herself  crossed her arms. “Not everyone goes around pushing people on purpose!” she shot back, still very angry at the girl from last weekend.

Alex saw what was going on and her eyes met Tobin’s. They had to stop this before it got any worse. “Sydney!” she barked. “Get up top!”

“Walk away Al” Tobin ordered as she put a hand on her teammate’s shoulder.

Tobin gained control of the ball again but this time she recognized the face charging towards her. It was Alex who had come back to help her defensive line. It was just like yesterday in the park except it wasn’t. There was more on the line than just a kiss and in this moment Alex was the enemy. Learning from yesterday Tobin passed the ball back to Christen without even a look. Christen anticipated this as she knew her captain’s style and tricks all too well.

Alex knew there were pros and cons of playing pick up with her girlfriend the day before a game. Pro: she was with her girlfriend playing the sport that they both loved. Con: they learned each other’s tricks too quickly. She let out a frustrated noise when Tobin passed the ball back and watched as Pinoe went in to attack Christen. Christen was already making her way down the field as Pinoe cut her off, but Press was already passing to Lauren.

“Mewie!” Alex called out, signaling for her to begin pushing back as their opponents reached their attack third. Everyone started to push back except her and Sydney.

Whit was in the sweeper’s position, listening to Hope yelling instructions at her. But she tuned out as soon as Lauren, given too much space, was rapidly approaching. Without thinking, Whitney charged towards her. Lauren tried to fake her out towards the left, but was stopped short when Whitney came in for  tackle and took the ball away from Lauren. She quickly took to her feet and passed the ball to Kristie, who caught the ball at ease and began taking it forward and out wide. Looking up, she crossed the ball to Yael on the other side of the field. An on rushing Krieger was coming towards Yael, so seeing no other choice, she headed it towards Sydney, who took too soon to take a shot and it went out wide past the goal.

“Dammit!” Sydney groaned.

“Hey, focus,” Alex said. “Take a little more time on that one.”

“I know.”

And it was only getting tougher from there.

Tobin motioned for the freshman, Dunn, to keep on Leroux. Although the girl’s small stature and lack of experience was proving to be a disadvantage, and Bue, a senior was injured, Tobin knew the rookie was more than capable. The midfielder knew that time was running out until halftime and she would have liked to get at least one goal going into the second half. Allie gained possession of the ball and started running up the midfield. Tobin called out on the far left but before she could receive the ball, it was already stolen again. She turned and sighed as she saw Leroux racing up the field again towards Ashlyn.

 _C’mon Crys_ she accidentally said aloud as if motivating the young defender from across the field. In a perfect slide tackle, Crystal regained control and quickly sent the ball up to an open Cheney. Lauren dribbled around Mewis and successfully tricked Rapinoe tripping the girl up. She saw Yael and Sydney charging towards her prompting a quick pass through them up to Christen. The forward sped past the remaining defender to go 1v1 with Solo. Seeing an opening Christen shot upper right corner but Hope read her perfectly and made a diving save. The striker fell to her knees in frustration.

Only seconds after the ball was put into play again, the whistle blew to signal half time. Both teams were frustrated in not succeeding to put at least one in the back of the net throughout the whole 45 minutes. The players slowly jogged to the sidelines, collecting water before going into their respective locker rooms. Sydney was waking from the halfway line when Kristie jogged over to her, tugging her arm.

“What?” Sydney asked, furrowing her eyebrows because Kristie had a serious look on her face similar to the one she’d had just before the first whistle blew.

“Don’t look,” Kristie instructed carefully, trying to keep her voice low enough for only Sydney’s ears. “but Servando’s here.”

“Huh? I couldn’t hear you,” Sydney said. “Speak up!”

The blonde groaned, rolling her eyes. “I said,” she repeated, just a little louder, still hoping no one heard. “Servando. Is. Here.”

Sydney’s eyes widened, and of course, she took a look in the stands. There was Servando, perched up and looking down at all of them with a couple of friends. “Holy shit,” she mumbled, absentmindedly following her friend to the locker room.

Kelley walked slowly by the opponent’s bench as she made her way into her locker room. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t think that she wanted to hear Hope’s voice. She wasn’t eavesdropping but she also wasn’t passively not listening to the conversations as she walked by. Most were of frustration and anger , Kelley figured they were not worth listening to, until she heard a familiar name. Servando? She mouthed as she turned to see Leroux and Mewis discreetly pointing to someone in the stands. She looked to see the one face that shouldn’t be at the game.

 

Tobin didn’t feel bad about the first half, but she certainly didn’t feel good either. For the most part she had avoided interaction with Alex, and there were no major scuffles between teams yet. She prayed it would stay that way.

“Tobs!” She heard Kelley yell from behind her.

Panting and out of breath the squirrel tried to find her words.

“I-I- Just saw-you won’t believe who’s here!”

“Who?” Tobin asked suddenly growing more and more nervous.

“Him”

“God is always around Kell!” Tobin laughed hoping the girl’s sudden seriousness was just a joke.

“No, Servando!” Kelley hissed making more noise than she wanted.

Tobin’s eyes grew wide at the name. “Oh my god” she muttered stopping in front of the locker room.

“No telling Allie or Ashlyn or anyone else, okay? This is between us..” Tobin stated as she grabbed her friend by the shoulders.

Kelley nodded in understanding knowing how potentially bad things could get if anyone else knew he was there.

The two walked into the locker room to find it dead quiet.

“You know the walls are thin around here, right?” Ashlyn said with an expression of duh written all over her face.

Tobin gulped as she turned to Allie who was already turning red from the anger boiling inside of her.

“Al….Don’t even think about it okay? Just pretend he’s not here” Tobin said attempting to take preventative action.

Allie smirked as everyone held their breaths.

She took a big breath “You’re right, I’m fine, really, I could care less.”

“Good” Tobin said at the same time as Ashlyn spoke out “Really?!”

She shot the girl a warning look of ‘don’t even go there’ before turning the conversation back to the first half and what to look for in the second.

 

Alex leaned against the lockers, eyes wandering around her teammates. Some looked tired, others were frustrated, yet others looked between Alex and their coach. Sydney and Kristie were the last to walk in, and with one look Alex knew something was up. They shuffled in and sat on the space left on the bench, looking at Alex with a worried gaze.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or are we going to play that game where we hide things?”

Everyone turned to Sydney and Kristie, who looked at each other, then back at Alex unsure if they should share the news.

“Well…”

“The longer you take, the guiltier you look,” Alex pointed out.

“And the more time we waste when we could be spending it re-grouping and talking new strategies,” Hope butted in, looking very unamused.

“Just tell her,” Kristie mumbled, biting her lip.

Sydney sighed, looking at Alex with her lips hesitating before they let words come out. “...Servando’s here.”

Alex blinked. “What?”

Hope’s posture immediately tensed. “Why?”

“We don’t know,” Kristie admitted. “I just noticed him at the end of half.”

“I wonder if blondie’s seen her…” Sydney mused.

It took Alex a moment, but she found her composure again and shook her head. “No. No thinking about Servando. No thinking about Allie Long. We need to focus and figure out how we can win this game. We’re here for soccer, not a drama.”

“Oh this is a drama alright,” Hope mumbled under her breath, but fortunately no one heard her. Instead, they listened as their coach took over, telling them what to fix and how to get more shots on goal.

 

Tobin watched Allie and Ashlyn carefully as they walked back out to the field. She knew those two were the most prone to start trouble but much to her surprise neither bothered to look for Servando _. Maybe it will be alright after all_ she thought as she awaited for the whistle to blow and for the game to resume.

Clearly, both teams had an even bigger fire lit beneath them as both went back and forth with control of the ball not making it out of the midfield for the most part.  It was the 55th minute and Allie had the ball at her feet. In a familiar scenario, defenders started to make their way to block her path but this time was different. This time Sydney came back in a frustrated sprint to gain back control. Allie smirked as she saw the determined look on the girl’s face. In a cheeky move she quickly swerved to the left keeping her foot in place to trip the rival forward. The girl fell on her face scratching her cheek causing it to bleed a little. Hearing the whistle Allie stopped and turned as she also heard the accusatory cries of Sydney.

“Oh no” Tobin said as she saw Alex start to make her way over between the two.

By the time she made it over Allie was already yelling and the ref was getting angrier.

“Yeah, How does it feel Leroux?” Allie shouted challenging the striker.

“Pretty low of you, Long!” Sydney shot back.

Alex stopped herself from glaring at Allie and knelt down to Syd, who was sitting up and holding her cheek. “How bad is it?”

Sydney shrugged. “I’ll live.”

Alex sighed. “Come on, they want you on the sidelines while you get a bandaid.”

“I can play!” Sydney argued.

“Come on Syd,” Alex frowned. “It’s only going to be for like seconds.”

“Fine,” Sydney mumbled, getting up and making her way to the trainers waiting, but not before shooting one last glare at Allie.

As Sydney was getting bandaged up Tobin ran up to Allie after the ref issued a yellow card to her. She didn’t even bother arguing because she knew it was a cheap foul but she did it anyways.

“Clean it up Al, I don’t want to see something like that again” Tobin warned.

“What’s with you?” Allie challenged back.

“Another play like that and you’re going to get kicked out of the game. I’m not the biggest fan of Leroux either but keep it together okay?” Tobin finished as she patted her teammate on the back. She suddenly looked up to see Alex staring at her. She heard her.

Alex was just giving Yael a couple of instructions as Pinoe prepared to take the free kick. Her ears perked up when she realized she could hear Tobin’s voice from where she stood, but when she processed the words her lips turned down into a frown. She couldn’t help but stare at her girlfriend. Sydney could be a handful at times, but she was still Alex’s best friend and Tobin knew that.

Tobin felt shitty as soon as she met Alex’s gaze. As much as everything told her to go and apologize, she just nodded to the forward and continued on her way.

Alex let out a deep breath as Tobin walked away to most likely mark one of Alex’s teammates. She shook her head, trying to focus and quickly ran up to be even with the last defender. The whistle blew and Megan’s foot hit the ball, beginning the game again. Alex knew the ball wasn’t hitting the ground anytime soon, so she raced after it, trying to get a good head on it to send it into goal. She was successful in heading it towards the goal, but it fell straight into the arms of Ashlyn Harris.

“Dammit,” Alex muttered, shaking her head as she slowly jogged backwards.

Tobin knew the ball was trouble as soon as she saw Alex flying through the air to try and head it. She felt a bead of sweat trickle down her temple as the pressure to score a goal was increasing as the minutes ticked down. Whenever she gained possession of the ball she did everything she could to get the ball into scoring position. It wasn’t enough though as all efforts found their way into the hands of Hope Solo.

 

The minutes were slipping by, but neither team was giving up as they pushed to hit the ball into the back of the net. Finishing wasn’t enough, lucky shots or hits weren’t happening and everyone on both teams was growing more frustrated. As Hope placed the ball down for a goal kick, Alex took a look at her teammates on the field. They’d used one sub and she could see the exhaust wearing on everyone, but she could also see the fire in their eyes. They wanted to finish it off with a win; they needed to. She tried her best to avoid Tobin, unsure what would happen if she let herself naturally gravitate toward the captain. This wasn’t a time to think about her girlfriend.

Hope waved her hands, signaling that everyone needed to move up - meaning defenders stood at the half. Alex did as she was told, making sure she wasn’t offsides. Hope first locked eyes with Pinoe then Alex, and all three knew what was about to happen. Slowly backing up, Hope took a breath before launching the ball into the air, placing it perfectly at Pinoe’s feet. The quick and skilled midfielder dribbled around a defender while Alex immediately found open space on the opposite side of the field.

“HEY! PINOE!” she cried out, knowing no one was on her and by the team they’d realize where she was, she’d be ready to outrun them with the ball.

The blonde looked up for only a second, then tapped the ball a few inches in front of her. As soon as her ball hit the foot, it was sailing into the air and Alex was readying to trap it with the inside of her foot. Adrenaline rushed through her because she knew exactly where it was going. What she didn’t see was an oncoming midfielder trying to recover. The ball found Alex’s foot just like it would and before Alex could take an extra touch and shoot, Allie Long came barreling in. Alex yelped out in pain, immediately falling to the ground and clutching her left foot, her shooting foot.

Tobin was on her way before Hope even kicked the ball. She knew that all it took was the right touch from Rapinoe to Alex for there to be another threat. She rushed to cover Rapinoe when she heard Alex’s voice shouting for the ball. Before she could find the ball again it was soaring through the air towards Alex’s left foot. She knew Alex couldn’t see her but before she could let out a cry, a warning, even a breath Allie, smashed into her girlfriend. Tobin immediately knew it was going to be serious by the sheer force that Allie barreled into Alex with. That seriousness was reinforced as Alex’s cry pierced Tobin’s ears causing her legs to go weak at the thought of her girl hurt. Everything in her body told her to rush to Alex, but something stopped her. She was frozen. She looked at Allie arguing with the ref, the red card being thrust into the air, and then back to Alex who was holding her left foot as she cried out in pain _. Should she defend Allie and try and keep her on the field? Or should she follow her instincts and make sure Alex was okay?_ In what felt like slow motion, she couldn’t move her legs to go in either direction.  Tobin knew she had to make a choice. This was the fine line.

 


	9. Part 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PKs make or break the game, but there's still aftermath that will ensue.

Tobin could hear her heart threatening to break right through her chest as she watched Alex scream out in pain. She had made her choice, but before she could get one step closer to her girlfriend, the trainers rushed her to the sidelines. She was too late. She swallowed hard and clenched her jaw as she ran her hands through her hair. She felt like she could breakdown and cry at any moment herself until Kelley rushed over to her captain.

“Tobin, are you okay?” She asked at a low whisper to make sure no one could hear the conversation.

Tobin looked back at her friend hard. The stare told Kelley everything.

“Sh-she’ll be alright” She reassured the girl even though she had little to no idea the damage to Alex’s foot.

“What if she isn’t? What if she realizes I wasn’t there in time to be with her?!” Tobin hissed a little louder.

“SHH!” Kelley immediately shushed Tobin “Do you know what would happen if the truth comes out now?!”

“I-” Before Tobin could finish her thought, the ref called to her asking if she was ready to get going again.

“Take a swig of water and don’t worry, okay?” Kelley said as she tossed her a water bottle.

The cool water felt good going down Tobin’s dry throat. It made her feel alive again, but not alive enough to ignore Alex’s pleas to stay on the sideline. All she wanted was to run over and beg her to go to the hospital now, to not wait, but she knew there would be no convincing her strong-willed girlfriend anyways.

 

The screams and tears and pain were nothing compared to the frustration Alex was feeling. This was supposed to be their game. She needed to carry this team through the final whistle and she couldn’t even do that.

“Damn her!” Alex said, punching an equipment bag as the trainers inspected her foot.

“Alex calm down!” Yael chastised. “Freaking out isn’t going to make this any better!”

“Yeah! Well I’m sitting on the sidelines and my foot is literally in so much pain that I’m pretty sure hell is better than this! Like, what the hell did she even do?!”

“Look, you’re upset and I get that,” the midfielder said softly, watching as tears continued to stream down Alex’s face and the girl bit her lip to hold in a scream. “but this team needs to be somewhat composed. We all know you hate being on the sideline, but really we can’t risk it.”

“She’s right,” their coach piped in. “Morgan, you have to chill out or so help me God--”

“I get it Coach,” Alex spat, slipping off her captain’s band. “Here,” she said, tossing it to Yael. “Give it to Hope.”

Yael looked at her captain for a moment before patting her knee. “We’re in this for you now, Al.” With that she jogged off.

Alex sniffled, trying to hold back tears. Whatever the trainers were doing wasn’t really helping her at the moment; in fact it felt like it was making her injury worse. There was one person she needed, but to have that one person by her side was something neither of them could risk at the moment.

But Alex didn’t care. She was in pain, her team was on the line playing with 10 and her girlfriend was just out of reach. She turned her head to see the midfielder now getting a drink of whatever.

“Stay,” she called out, but most people weren’t even sure who she was talking to. By the way Tobin froze, Alex could tell she knew who it was meant for. “Please, I need you. Stay with me. I-it hurts so ba-ad,” she choked out, wiping her tears. “Please,” she whimpered when she watched Tobin cap her water bottle again. It was her last attempt to find some comfort in her living nightmare of a serious injury in the most important game.

Alex’s pleas weren’t convincing Tobin that she shouldn’t run over to be by the forward’s side but she knew there was more than just her and Alex at stake this game. No holding back she thought as she remembered the unspoken promise made between her and Alex before the game. She didn’t care anymore, she saw the pain in Alex’s eyes and all she wanted was to fix her and make it go away the best she could. That is, until the ball reached Tobin’s feet and the girl immediately went into some focused trance once again. There were only minutes left in the game and with both teams down one player, the adrenaline was coursing through their already exhausted bodies. Successfully dribbling past one defender Tobin saw a window for herself to take a shot. She wound her body up to make the kick until she heard a cry from Alex again sending her shot into the sky.

Tobin heard the groans from her teammates, her coach, and the stands of support. That was her shot. That could have been the game changer. In the turnaround Yael quickly got the ball up the midfield and to the feet of Rapinoe. In another unsuccessful attempt by both teams, everyone let out a strained sigh. Before another attempt by either, the ref blew the whistle. Even more tension found it’s way into the players as they knew what was to come next. Penalty kicks.

Tobin immediately looked over to Alex as the whistle blew, still in pain but just as much terrified of the penalty kicks as the rest of her team.

 

Through her tears, Alex managed to watch the game, knowing her team was going even harder now that she was out and they were down to ten. Coach found no point of subbing in another player with only minutes left, so each side remained ten players. From the corner of her eyes, Alex could see a fuming Allie Long, who still insisted that her little act shouldn’t have resulted in being ejected off the field. She continued to watch the game as the trainers worked, attempting to ease the pain. She watched as Tobin had a chance to shoot and held her breath. Part of her wanted Tobin to make it so it’d all be over, but another part of her needed Hope to save the ball before she lost all her sanity. Just as Tobin got ready to shoot, an immense pressure was put on Alex’s leg, causing unimaginable pain. She let out a yelp and by the way Tobin’s shot went, it was obvious Alex was the reason it didn’t even make it on target.

When the final whistle blew, Alex crossed her arms. She felt sick to her stomach now. Up until this point, she was praying that either team would find a goal on their side. Now she knew penalty kicks were coming and she was freaking out. There was no way she would take one. Who would take her place as a shooter?

The trainers were doing their finishing touches and left crutches on Alex’s side so she could get up after they were done. Her teammates huddled around her, checking up on their captain. Hope pushed through half her teammates to get to her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re killing it out there,” Alex managed, giving her a weak smile.

Hope shook her head. “How’s your foot?”

“I finally felt the wrath of Allie Long personally,” Alex said, unsure if she was trying to be funny or just stating a fact.

More teammates came and gave Alex a reassuring hug, or in Sydney’s case a muttered, “I’m gonna kill that bitch when we’re done here.” But all words came to a stop as the seriousness of what was about to happen was remembered. Alex carefully watched her teammates. Hope was half in and out, preparing herself for the PKs. Everyone else looked at Coach intently, awaiting their fate.

“I’m sorry it’s come to this,” Coach sighed, looking down at her clipboard and then back at her players. “And this is nothing how we wanted it to go. But you’re playing hard out there and I like it. You all know what’s coming next. Remember those practices we’d practice shooting. Remember the days I specifically practiced PKs with you girls. This is when it matters. It’s all in now, kids.”

A few nods were made while some looked nervously at the clipboard, wondering who’s name was on that list.

“Alex was supposed to be the first to take a PK,” Coach admitted. “But now were obviously going to change that. Sydney, you’re starting it off.”

“Got it,” Sydney nodded, not a word more.

Coach continued to list off names, and Alex pictured in her mind how each shot. She knew everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and now wasn’t the time to mess it up.

“And Hope in goal,” their coach concluded, looking at the senior keeper. “Do or die.”

“Do or die,” Hope echoed, looking at all her teammates.

“You guys got this,” Alex said slowly, focusing on her team. She needed a distraction. She knew her girlfriend was only yards away, but it wasn’t the time to call out to her. Her team needed her, just like Alex’s team needed their captain. “All of this game today, you guys have played incredibly. This is the game we’ve been waiting for, and it’s been a hell of a game,” she chuckled, receiving a few small smiles in return. “Just stay focused, and I want you cheering your teammates on when their shot goes into that fucking net. And I want you to cheer for every PK Hope saves. We’re in this.”

“Do it for Alex,” Hope said sternly. “I may have this captain’s band on, but she’s our captain and she wants to be out there more than anything.”

“For Alex,’ Sydney repeated, followed by her teammates.

It was enough of a distraction for awhile.

 

Tobin looked at the worn faces of her team. Worn but not done.

“This is bullshit, I should be taking a shot!” Allie exclaimed.

“Allie, SHUT UP!” Tobin unexpectedly shouted. Everyone looked at their captain, the tiniest of smirks reaching their faces as the girl had finally found her voice.

“S-Sorry Tobs” Allie apologetically said, confused at the reaction from her usually reserved captain and friend.

“Listen guys, this is it. No holding back, because if you hold back even a little, they’ll take advantage of that. We’re all capable of taking a shot, we’ve done it thousands of times in practice. If we want this, then we all have to be there together. Find a reason to put that ball in the back of the net, more than just winning, more than just a title.. Now let’s go, we have a game to win!” Tobin finished as she put her hand in the middle of the circle for her teammates to follow.

As they broke Lauren rested a hand on her shoulder.

“You sounded like a captain there, huh?” She said with a smile.

“That’s the idea” Tobin stated.

“There’s no one here that could be in your position, I think you just proved that.” Cheney said as she patted the girl on the back and ran ahead.

“Are you ready for this?” Tobin asked Kelley who had her eyes fixated on something on the opposing teams side.

“Mhmm” Kelley nervously let out.

Tobin smiled “Here take a swig of water, and don’t worry okay?” She said mimicking the girl’s words to her earlier.

Kelley gulped the water down knowing full well that she wasn’t in any position to be taking any penalty shots against her ex girlfriend.

 

As everyone scattered to their rightful places, Hope hung back a little with Alex.

“You’ve got this,” Alex reassured the keeper. “You could do this in your sleep.”

Hope chuckled. “You’re lucky I haven’t gone over there with Syd and killed Long. Her excuses were bullshit. The ball was a foot away from you.”

“Well, use that anger to focus when you’re in goal,” Alex suggested, knowing Hope worked well in games when she had something to focus her emotions on.

“Will do Captain,” Hope winked.

“You’re wearing the band.”

“You’re the one who proved she’s captain today,” the keeper shot back. “I need to go get ready,” she sighed. “Hang in there.” She leaned down and kissed Alex’s head, ruffling the girl’s hair a little.

Alex gave her a small smile. “Nothing gets past Hope Solo.”

“Nothing breaks Alex Morgan,” Hope returned the smile. She noticed Alex’s eyes drifting and knew what was going through her mind. “It’s game time, kid.”

Alex sighed, realizing Hope was aware of everything now. “I know, I know...I just wish…”

“Trust me, you’re not the only one,” Hope promised. She sounded like she was talking about Tobin, and that’s how she was going to keep it. She turned, noticing Ashlyn already in goal. She knew better than to watch her team take PKs. She needed to get her head in the game, so she walked towards the side of the goal, outside of the 18. She almost tripped when she noticed Kelley in the group of girls who were huddled together, as if sharing last-minute plans.

She couldn’t take a PK against her ex.

 

Tobin was the first player, it was decided, to take the penalty shot. She sighed heavily as she walked to take her spot. Her coach chose Tobin to go first because she believed her to be the most calm and collected when it came to situations like this. Normally, Tobin was calm and collected, but today she was a bundle of nerves. _Too much is on the line_ she thought as she set the ball down. She couldn’t bring herself to look over to Alex even though she felt the girl’s eyes on her every move. She swallowed hard as she looked up to the only thing that mattered in that moment, the goal. She saw the intense focus on Hope’s face and could finally understand why everyone was seemingly scared of the girl. One more breath and Tobin thought there was no better time than now to take the shot. She took a couple steps back and before she could feel scared or nervous she strode forward and kicked the ball with something more than just might. She could barely process what happened before her teammates’ cheers deafened her. She made the goal. She aimed for the top right corner and that’s exactly where she put it, just out of Hope Solo’s reach. Tobin turned to join her teammates but not before noticing Alex out of the corner of her eye. She could only imagine what was going through her girlfriend’s head.

 

 _Fuck!_ Hope cursed inside of her head. She knew without a doubt she was wearing the infamous bitch face her teammates always talked about as she walked out of the goal. She knew that one should’ve been a save. But it wasn’t and now her team was down one. She didn’t hear the reassurances of her teammates as she took off her gloves to take a swig of water.

Alex was torn between being happy for her girlfriend for making the goal or being pissed that it went in. Then, a thought occurred to her. _She wants to put the game before us? Might as well do the same._

Sydney took a deep breath, setting the ball down. She hardly paid attention to Ashlyn trying to psych her out before she even took her penalty. Knowing exactly where she wanted it, Sydney immediately drove her foot towards the ball, slotting it into the left corner opposite of where Ashlyn originally guessed and dove towards.

 _Good. We’re even_ , Alex thought smugly as she cheered on her best friend from the sidelines.

Tobin held her breath as Christen, the rookie stepped up to take her shot. Tobin could tell Hope seemed confident about this one. Fear of failure was written all over Christen’s face and body language as she got ready. Feeling less than stellar, Christen shot not really knowing where she was trying to put it. Regardless of her aim, the sheer force seemed to surprise the goalkeeper as she tried to dive for the ball.

Hope could see it in the young girl’s eyes that she wasn’t ready for this. The frustrating part about it was that Hope couldn’t tell where the ball was going because Christen herself didn’t know either. Luckily for Hope, she guessed correctly, but the ball came at her harder than she expected. She almost dropped the ball but quickly regained possession, holding onto it tightly. She didn’t bother to listen to the cheers her teammates cried out as she stood, rolling the ball away from her with a confident smirk.

Yael and Megan weren’t so lucky. It seemed after the first goal, Ashlyn wasn’t letting any slip by. Yael fumbled, hesitating a second long enough for Ashlyn to read her while Megan’s hit the post. Meanwhile, Alex was still on the side, holding her breath. At this point, each team had two left, and she prayed that her team would be able to slot one in before it was too late.

Cheney was next for Tobin’s team. She placed the ball perfectly in the left pocket of the net as Hope dove to the right. She ran back to her team as they immediately turned their attention back to Ashlyn and whoever was shooting next on the opposing team.

Alex watched with clenched teeth. Her stomach dropped at the sight of Hope diving the wrong way. Hope never dove the wrong way. Something was messing with her game, but Alex couldn’t put a finger on it. She nervously watched as Kristie set herself up. Kristie was never usually one to take a PK, but it was a time they really needed her kick. She watched as the defender narrowed her eyes, first at the goal then at the ball. Alex let out a scream of approval when she saw Ashlyn go to tip the ball out of the net, but her hand missed.

“HELL YEAH MEWIE!” Alex yelled, wanting to run over and hug the girl who she knew was probably terrified on the inside.

One more. They just needed one more goal.

Kelley gulped as she knew what Ashlyn missing meant. She had to take a shot,  against Hope of all people. Her team was charged with the prospect of finally winning so close. Kelley knew it shouldn’t have to come down to this but she had no choice in the matter. She tried to pretend it wasn’t Hope standing between her and the goal but she couldn’t help but get lost in the keeper’s steely stare. Her heart was racing and she wondered if Hope could hear her heart beat from where she was standing. She slowly set the ball down taking her time as she came back up.

Hope had never felt as empty as she had for the past twenty-four hours. She never felt empty. She never felt the need to depend on someone. The one person who gave her that need was standing right in front of her, readying to take a PK against her. She knew how Kelley shot, they’d messed around with a soccer ball a few times, but now with the situation they’d found themselves in, Hope wasn’t sure what would happen. By accident, she’d locked eyes with her ex, finding the light brown eyes she’d slowly fallen for staring at her blankly. Quickly, Hope averted her eyes, looking to the ball instead. One last breath before the last chance of saving her team. She watched Kelley’s feet as they slowly retreated. _She shoots with her right_ , Hope reminded herself quickly. _Which side will she go for?_

Kelley looked down at her feet and then to the ball. She glanced up to see Hope’s teetering cleats as the girl was trying to decipher which side she was aiming for.

She swallowed hard, Kelley knew where she was going to put the ball, it was just a matter of whether Hope was reading her successfully or not. She hit the ball with everything in her tiny body. She stared in disbelief as the ball squarely and firmly hit the middle of the net as Hope landed to the left thinking that’s where Kelley was going.

For the first time in what felt like forever, she couldn’t read Kelley. In the past few weeks she’d been able to realize Kelley was an open book. That seemed to be gone as Kelley began to back up. All Hope knew was that it was going to be a hard kick. The keeper watched as Kelley’s foot hit the ball and she dove down to the left. Damn it, she screamed to herself in her head as she watched the ball sail to the middle of the goal. She just cost them the game.

In what seemed like milliseconds Kelley was hoisted up among her screaming and crying teammates. Tears of her own started to stream down her face as the pride of the moment rushed into her. She briefly caught a glimpse of Hope slowly getting to her feet, shock and an apparent sadness on her usually put together and serious face.

The keeper took off her gloves, feeling eyes on her but she knew she couldn’t meet that gaze because it could be the only one to break her. And Hope Solo didn’t break. Not with eyes watching her. She slowly trudged back to her teammates, who were all making their way towards their injured captain.

“So close,” Hope muttered. “till I fucked it up.”

Kristie frowned. “Come on Hope, it’s not like you did a shit job out there. You were amazing, as usual.”

The taller girl shook her head firmly. “Not amazing enough.”

Alex let out a sigh. There was something off about Hope throughout the PKs, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. Whatever it was definitely got to her in those last moments. “Maybe if I didn’t get hurt it wouldn’t have had to come to this.”

“Thanks for reminding me!” Sydney exclaimed. “Hope, let’s go kill that bitch!”

“No,” Alex said abruptly. The last thing she wanted was another fight. “Come on guys, I know this game was something we all wanted. But hey, if we win or tie the rest of our games, we’ll see them again at play offs. We can still do this,” she reminded them.

“I guess,” Whitney mumbled, still visibly upset.

“Come on, heads up,” Alex said, trying to do the same. She knew her team needed her to be strong when all she wanted was to find Tobin’s embrace. Someone had to carry this team and it wasn’t Hope anymore. “This was a great game and you all know it. Monday afternoon I want you all to show up with your heads high and ready to practice. We’re not letting play offs slip away from us this year, got it?”

Her teammates all mumbled incoherent statements of agreement, all except Hope. She stayed quiet with her eyes low the whole time. They all began to part ways, but Hope stayed behind with Alex.

“What was that today?” Alex asked hesitantly. She knew it wasn’t easy to get Hope to share things, but she had to try.

Hope shook her head. “It just wasn’t my day today. Come on, do you need a ride home?” She didn’t want to talk about it. She couldn’t talk about it. Kelley was her secret and she wasn’t going to share it.

There was no point in pushing any further, so Alex nodded with a slight smile on her face. “Yeah...I can’t really drive with this injury.”

“Let’s go kid, I’ll take you home.”

 

Everything was happening so fast all of a sudden and Tobin had to take a moment to collect herself and touch down back in reality. They had won. They won off of their defender’s foot against one of the best keepers in the state. It was all too surreal. The sweat, the blood, the tears, and the fights were worth it, Tobin decided. She looked at the faces of her teammates, the pure elation pouring out of each and every one of them. She just wished this moment didn’t have to cost Alex an injury, or worse cost both teams to hate each other even more. Tobin tried to find Alex as the arms of her teammates and coaches entangled her in the mess of people. She saw her girlfriend being gently escorted by Hope away from the field, and she instantly felt bad realizing in the moment of celebration she forgot to congratulate them on a good game. She pulled herself away from the bundle of people to meet the eyes of Servando in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” She accusingly asked

“I just need to speak with Allie” He said trying to convince Tobin he had some sort of right to be there at all.

“-How dare you show up here!” Allie shouted pushing Tobin aside before she could tell him to leave.

“Now you done it” Tobin mumbled as she didn’t even try and stop Allie this time. She knew Servando had some nerve showing up to the game but she didn’t realize how stupid he actually was temping his fate with Allie’s wrath.

“Listen-” He began weakly.

“No! I don’t need to hear your excuses, you can go now!” Wide-eyed Allie exclaimed giving him a push on his shoulder.

“Al, she meant nothing to me! I swear!” He desperately pleaded.

Allie peered at him “You’re pathetic, try your sob story with Morgan, maybe you two can lick each others wounds.” She snarkily stated.

Tobin hated that Allie brought Alex back into the argument but she still let the girl say what was on her mind. Allie turned on her heels and rejoined the celebration as Servando got up looking defeated. Tobin gave him one last hard look before grabbing her stuff and heading to the locker room.

 

Hope laid Alex’s crutches across the back seats over their soccer bags after the younger girl was comfortably seated in the front. She shut the door and made her way around to the driver’s seat. “So do you know how long you’re out?”

Alex shrugged. “They said to go to the doctor soon, but other than that I’m guessing one to two weeks.”

Hope made a face. “That sucks, Al.”

Alex sighed. “Tell me about it. How am I supposed to sit on the sidelines for that long?”

“You’ll be okay,” Hope reassured her with a pat on her knee. “Ready to go?”

Alex looked out the window, hoping to see Tobin but was disappointed when there was no one there. “Yeah let’s go,” she nodded, looking down.

The older girl nodded, slowly backing the car out of its spot when someone came sprinting over. “Shit.”

Alex gave her a confused look. “Huh?” She turned to see Servando. “Crap.”

“Don’t roll down the--” Hope started, but then gave up when she saw Alex rolling down her window anyway.

“Alex!” he exclaimed, putting a hand on the car for support. “So glad I caught you.”

“What do you want Servando?” Alex asked, annoyed.

“Look,” he started, standing upright now. “Allie’s just some crazy ex, okay? I had no idea she was going to be there and she thinks that we still have a chance to be together. But I don’t want her, I want to be with you! I’m sorry about that night, it was all a big mistake and I want to make it right again.”

Hope narrowed her eyes at him. “Then why did you wait until now to apologize?”

Servando shrugged slightly, looking at Alex. “Because I knew it looked bad on my part. I was just so ashamed that Allie did that...she’s crazy.”

“I can agree with you on that,” Hope muttered, rolling her eyes.

Alex looked at Servando for a long moment. “The bullshit never stops with you, does it?”

“Huh?”

“Look, I know you were dating Allie when you took me out. I’m not stupid,” she scoffed. “You know you’d be cute if you weren’t such a damn liar and player.”

Servando’s jaw dropped. “Alex, she’s gotten to you, hasn’t she?! Don’t listen to anything she says, she’s the liar!”

Alex was growing more annoyed at this point. “Fuck you Servando, you’re a piece of shit.” She looked at Hope expectantly.

Hope held in her laughter as she drove away, leaving a very dumbfounded Servando in the parking lot. “Good one, Al.”

Alex rolled her eyes, shrugging. “He’s a dumb ass. I can’t believe I thought he was cute a few weeks ago.”

“Wait so...how long have you and Tobin been together?” Hope asked cautiously, knowing very well that Alex was already in a bad mood.

The striker bit her lip, looking out the window as she replied, “A few days after the party.”

Hope thought for a moment. “That’s when you got into that happy mood for no reason, huh?”

Alex nodded slowly. “Mhmm. But I’m not even sure what the hell we are now.”

“Come on Alex, it’s just a game. You two will be fine.’

“She chose the game over me, Hope,” Alex spat, crossing her arms. “We promised each other no holding back, but I didn’t know it was going to go this far.”

Hope sighed, taking a side glance at the girl in her passenger’s seat. She felt sympathetic towards her, knowing she was more emotional than the keeper. “It’s tough, Al.”

Alex looked up at the keeper, biting her lip. “You’re not still mad at me for hiding it from you, are you?”

The older girl twisted her lips, thinking for a moment. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “It’s more than just hiding it from me.”

“What else is it?” the striker inquired curiously.

Hope knew she’d spoken too much the second Alex opened her mouth. “Nevermind,” she said quickly, beginning to shut the girl out. “Forget it.”

Alex knew she had to be very careful in situations like these. Hope was hostile and just one little thing could make her snap. “Look...I know you like keeping to yourself a lot,” she said quietly. “but you can’t keep things bottled up forever. I’m here, you know. And I’m sorry if that makes me sound like a hypocrite because I didn’t tell you about Tobin, but I really am.”

They sat in silence for a long moment. Alex believed she’d said too much while Hope debated with herself whether to finally come clean. Alex was growing more anxious by the second as the older girl was giving up the fight.

“I was with someone,” she finally said. “for a few weeks. We broke up yesterday.”

Alex gasp as her eyebrows raised in surprise. “You were?”

Hope always seemed so content on her own. She was independent and always made it seem like she didn’t need anyone - like she enjoyed being solo. It was a surprise for Alex - for anyone, really.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the younger girl managed to say. After a moment’s hesitation, she added, “Who was it?”

Hope gripped the steering wheel tightly as she answered, “Kelley O’Hara.” Her jaw clenched as she tried to force the image of the tiny defender out of her mind. Saying the name out loud for the first time in hours was like reality slapping her in the face. She needed to stay in control.

“Kelley...as in...freckles?” Alex asked, eyes widened. When Hope nodded, she gaped. “Really?”

“Yes,” Hope snapped. “I was with Kelley.”

“Wait why did you guys…” Alex started, but quickly trailed off as she put the piece together. “Oh my god, Hope. I’m so..I’m sorry,” she blurted. “You two saw us at the park, didn’t you? She already knew.”

Hope whipped her face around to Alex. “Wait, you knew she knew?!”

Alex winced, moving away from Hope. “Tobin mentioned it in passing. It’s not like I was totally okay with her knowing. Kelley just happened to hear my voicemail to Tobin and she just--”

“Can we not talk about Kelley?” Hope suddenly requested, her voice steel. She knew it could crack at any given moment, but she refused to let it happen. “Let’s not talk about her ever again.”

Alex swallowed back her words, well aware that Hope was deadly in moments like this. “Okay,” she replied in a small voice.

Hope pulled into the driveway of the Morgan house. “We’re here.”

 

Tobin was the last to leave the locker room. They had finally won. And she didn’t want to miss any of it.

“You good Tobs?” Lauren asked as she opened the door to leave.

“I’m great Chen, I’ll see you later” She said flashing her friend a reassuring smile.

“Okay, remember we’re all meeting at Ash’s at 7!”

“I can’t wait!” Tobin replied.

As Lauren left, Tobin looked down at her phone to see no new messages. She was hoping there would be something, anything from Alex but there wasn’t. She sighed knowing that she was probably the last person Alex wanted to hear from. As much as she thought this, she still knew if she wanted to have fun at the celebration party that night, she needed to talk to Alex. She sent her a text hoping the girl would answer.

 

**Hey good game cap,  I’m sorry..How’s the ankle?**

 

Tobin read the text over and furrowed her brow at her apology. She knew she was saying sorry for just more than the loss or Alex’s ankle but she hoped her girlfriend knew that too.

 

When Alex’s phone beeped, she rolled over to reach it. When she saw the sender, a slight smile appeared on her face, but it quickly disappeared when her annoyance was remembered. She read the next, biting her lip as she thought of how to reply.

 

**You too. It’s fine.**

 

She wasn’t sure if it was obvious that she was annoyed at her girlfriend or not, but she didn’t really care as she hit the ‘send’ button.

 

Tobin’s phone buzzed as she slung her bag over her shoulder and headed to her car. She clenched her jaw as she peered down to the dim screen. A small frown found her face as she read the message. She was tempted to go and find Alex right then and there and tell her how much she cared for her. She contemplated stopping by her house on the way home but figured she’d be late for the party at Ash’s when she promised her teammates she’d be there on time for once. She had to make things right with Alex but tonight was not the night to do it. It was another choice that she wasn’t sure about but she was never one to be decisive anyways. Tobin stared intently at the blinking line on the reply box. Her fingers seemed frozen above the letters she was sure she felt, yet had a hard time typing.

 

**I love you Lex.**

 

She felt better after typing it out, as if seeing it was convincing enough for her to finally accept it and believe in it. She didn’t want Alex to feel like Tobin didn’t care for her but she wasn’t there. She wasn’t there when Alex went down, and not even when the cries from the girl’s pain was so hoarse in her ears, she couldn’t even hear her own heartbeat. This was the only thing she could manage for the time being and she only hoped her simple message found an honest place in Alex’s heart.

 

Alex groaned when her phone beeped again. She was originally planning on not looking at it, but obviously curiosity and longing got the best of her as she reached over to check the message. She completely froze as her eyes read the text. It was only three words, but it was enough to make Alex’s world stop.

It hadn’t even been a month into the relationship and the three words found a way to them. Over a text. Alex bit her lip, trying to figure out what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really appreciate you guys! We always like to know what you think so please be sure to drop a message in either of our asks or just comment on here. :)


	10. Part 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Broken or repaired; it can only be one.

Tobin’s breath grew more shallow as she watched her phone waiting for a reply. One minute passed. Two minutes. _Where was she?_

 

Alex was doing no better as she stared at her phone. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. She wasn’t even sure if she was reading it right. Finally, after seven long minutes of staring at the same four words over and over again, she couldn’t bring herself to write a reply. Whatever conversation this would lead to had to be in person. Slowly, she closed out of her messages and placed her phone on the coffee table. Her eyes returned to the TV in front of her as her mind went numb. Four words kept repeating in her head. _I love you Lex._

 

Tobin jumped in the shower to wash the day’s hardwork away. She checked her phone almost immediately as she got out. Still no new messages. She knew instantly that she had made yet another mistake. It was clearly something she should have said to Alex in person first rather than over text but now there she was, in no better position than she was before she sent the message. She thought about apologizing again but nerves got the best of her as she knew she had made too many mistakes that day already.

Tobin looked in the mirror one final time before leaving to go to the party. She almost tripped over her bag trying to get to her  phone as it lit up on her desk.

 

**Hey Tobs, mind picking up some extra cups on the way over?**

 

Deflated, Tobin replied to Ashlyn’s request and checked her inbox to be sure that Alex hadn’t replied. Nothing.

 

Tobin walked in right at 7 on the dot. She was warmly welcomed by her smiling teammates as they set off party poppers as their captain arrived. After more hugs the team began to chant ‘Speech, Speech!’ prompting Tobin to hop up on the nearest chair. She looked around at the sea of cheery faces to find one not so happy. It was odd to see her usual energetic freckled friend so down. Tobin knew what would cheer her up.

“So who would have thought our little squirrel here would be up top taking PKs like it was her job?!” Tobin began getting cheers from the team. She watched Kelley carefully hoping to put a smile on the girl’s face but she looked even more broken than before. Taken aback, Tobin finished her speech earning a few more woops from the crowd. She lifted her glass to toast the team and the victory proud to have led her team that day. Tobin hopped down and sat down next to Kelley.

“What’s up with you Kell?” Tobin discreetly asked as Ashlyn and co. began to dance to the newest song on the radio.

“What? Nothing, I’m happy as can be!” Kelley said with a faint smile.

Tobin felt pained as she looked at the corners of her friend’s mouth move upwards. She knew it was a forced smile, and from the look in her eyes, Tobin could tell the girl’s heart had been broken.

“So what’s the name of the guy I have to beat up?” Tobin joked.

Kelley let out a laugh “There’s no guy Tobs-just a -a girl.” She solemnly said.

Tobin’s eyebrows shot up “So what’s the name of the girl I have to beat up then?” She corrected herself.

Kelley smirked at her friend’s question as she pushed her face playfully away.

“Let’s just enjoy tonight, okay?” Kelley said feeling a little better having told Tobin, even if it wasn’t very specific or detailed.

“C’mon the dancefloor has our names on it!” Kelley exclaimed with a new energy as she jumped up.

  
  


The day morning Alex was woken up by movement on her bed. “What the…” she mumbled, still half-asleep.

“Guess who brought their favorite crippled captain donuts for breakfast?” a chirpy voice asked.

Alex’s eyes snapped open at the sound of it. Her vision adjusted and she found Kristie and Sydney sitting on either side of the bed. “Oh my god you used the key I gave you again.”

“Isn’t it working out great for us?” Sydney grinned.

“Not even a thank you for the donuts,” Kristie jokingly scoffed.

All her worries were forgotten momentarily as she took the box of donuts and thanked them. “You guys are the best.”

“Duh we are,” Sydney stated, flipping her hair. “Anyway, how’s the foot?”

Alex tried moving it around a bit, but winced. “Still hurts,” she managed to chuckle. “Don’t know how long I’m going to be out.”

“You’re lucky Syd hasn’t gone on a hunt for Long,” Kristie mentioned, giving her best friend a look.

“What? Bitch deserves what’s coming for her!” Sydney argued, crossing her arms.

Alex laughed, happy to be surrounded by people who were there for her. “I appreciate it Syd, but let’s try not to go around killing people?”

“Fine,” she mumbled, pouting.

Kristie and Sydney decided to fill Alex in on anything she’d missed after Hope took her home, but Alex’s mind was drifting somewhere else. The heavy text she’d received yesterday was still imprinted in her brain. She wasn’t sure what to do. What did Tobin do?

“Hey Al...you there?” Kristie asked when she noticed Alex’s eyes drifting.

The striker’s attention turned back onto her teammates. “Uh yeah...hey, can you check if there’s any messages on my phone?”

“Sure,” Sydney shrugged, grabbing Alex’s phone at request.

It was just a second later that Alex realized that might not have been a good idea. Even when locked, her phone gave the name and part of the message as a preview. “Wait!” she said suddenly. “Actually-”

“Nothing,” Sydney shrugged, tossing her the phone. “Well, I mean you have a text from people asking how you’re doing, but there’s nothing relatively important.”

Alex let out a quiet sigh of relief. “Thanks Syd,” she said and sent a thank you to God because who knew what would’ve happened if Tobin had left her a text or a missed call.

Though it was a relief that there wasn’t anything there for her, it was also a disappointment because she was hoping Tobin had some kind of follow up to her text. Sure, the words certainly scared Alex, but she deserved an explanation. Especially after the day they’d had yesterday.

Another hour of talking to her friends went by and Sydney and Kristie decided to go. Sydney claimed they were trying to find Kristie acceptable clothes to wear while Kristie argued. Alex laughed, watching them bicker as they left her house. After closing the door behind them, she hobbled in her crutches back to the living room where she plopped herself onto the couch. Now that she was alone, her thoughts began to take over. _I love you Lex._

 

Tobin pulled into Alex’s driveway as she watched a familiar car leave it and drive down the street. It was time to fix what she had broken. She only hoped it wasn’t Alex’s heart that needed mending. She nervously walked up the steps and knocked on the door as she dug her hands in her pockets.

Alex frowned, wondering who was at her door. She wondered if it was Kristie and Sydney again, but she knew they wouldn’t even bother knocking because Sydney had a key. Sighing, the striker got up on her crutches once again and made her way to the front door. Putting one of her crutches aside, she opened the door to find Tobin in the other side.

“Uh...hi,” she said softly, grabbing the other crutch to stay upright.

Tobin felt her gut wrench at the sight of Alex hobbling around on crutches. She felt something different this time when she looked into her girl’s eyes. It was fear. For the first time she felt afraid that she was going to lose Alex and she knew it was all her fault. Suddenly speechless, she tried digging her hands even deeper into her pockets to escape the awkwardness.

“Hey” She finally let out looking at her own feet now “We um need to talk about yesterday” she said softly.

Alex bit her lip nervously. “Yeah...we do. We really do,” she agreed, moving out of the way so Tobin could walk into the room. With Tobin’s presence, the four words repeating in Alex’s head seemed louder than ever.

Tobin gingerly shuffled in. Not knowing where to begin she asked the obvious first “How’s your foot?”. She instantly felt stupid as the question came out but waited for a response anyways.

The striker closed the door behind her girlfriend and then turned to face her. She tried not to respond with a sarcastic answer. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be out.”

Tobin knew she was being an idiot for putting off the conversation she was trying to have with the girl but she couldn’t find the words she needed.

“Let me see” the midfielder said as she sat down on the couch and beckoned for Alex to put her foot up on Tobin’s lap.

Still nervous, Alex made her way over, sitting on the opposite end of the couch and propping her foot onto Tobin’s lap gently.

Tobin began to examine Alex’s foot, caressing it gently so as not to hurt the forward anymore than she already did. The words came to her as she held the girl’s injured ankle, the memory of how it happened too clear in her head. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there” She quietly stated.

Alex held in her wince as Tobin inspected her foot. She was so busy focusing on not feeling the pain that she almost missed what Tobin said. She looked down at the hem of her shorts. “I know.”

Tobin licked her dry lips and bit down on her cheek “You know, I meant what I said yesterday” she said as she bravely looked into Alex’s striking blue eyes. If there was a time for fear, there was a time for being brave. Tobin couldn’t beat around the conversation any longer.

The younger girl could feel the intensity in the warm brown eyes staring at her. She swallowed, surprised that it was Tobin being bold instead of her for a change. “Then why did you say it over text?” She didn’t mean to say it, but it was the first thing out of her mouth and it was too late to take it back.

Tobin took a moment to think about it before finally saying “Because I’m awful at this relationship thing and I just needed you to know- and I’m an idiot” Tobin rambled “but I’m an idiot who loves you and that’s why I’m here.” She paused suddenly fearful again “Why didn’t you respond?”.

Alex leaned over, putting her hand on top of Tobin’s. Her fingers slipped into the holes of Tobin’s hand. “Because I’m scared,” she admitted for the first time out loud. “We’ve been together for a few weeks and before that we hated each other. And I know I feel something strong for you too, but until last night I wasn’t able to figure out what it was. I’m not perfect, but I want you and I to be as close to perfect as we can get given our situation. I’m just...I’m afraid I’ll mess everything up by falling too fast or being reckless.” It was a lot to say and it was the first time she was saying it, but she needed Tobin to know. “And if you haven’t noticed, I kind of like being in control of things,” she added, giving a small chuckle. Tobin immediately regretted not having this conversation sooner, things would have been much easier if they were both open about their fears. “So you’re saying: if we can fall in love so easily, it’s possible to fall back into hate just as easily?” She asked to confirm.

The striker thought it over for a moment before nodding in confirmation. “Yes.”

Tobin had never thought about their relationship like this. It was a legitimate concern Alex raised.

“Well, I have my fears as well Lex, and by no means am I perfect either. You know this though.

It takes someone truly special though to open someone like me up and I only ask that you continue to be patient with me….Let’s be scared together.” Tobin finished fully realizing how cheesy she had just gotten but didn’t even care anymore. She needed Alex to know that she wasn’t giving up on her or their relationship.

Alex wasn’t sure when things got so serious between the two of them. Maybe it was serious all along, but she did know she wasn’t ready to give Tobin up and it seemed like Tobin wasn’t willing to let her go. She slid her foot off Tobin’s lap and scooted closer to the midfielder. She leaned her face forward until it was mere inches in front of the other girl. “Okay,” she whispered before leaning in to kiss her girlfriend.

Tobin openly welcomed Alex’s lips on her own, the familiar feeling returning to her. She still wasn’t satisfied with her apology yet though. Before Alex leaned in for another kiss Tobin pulled away and took the girl’s hands in her own.

“Lex” She said low and serious as she looked into her girl’s eyes.

Being away from Tobin and not seeing her on a regular basis that week because of the game had only made Alex miss Tobin’s touch like crazy. As Tobin took her face into her hands, the striker looked at the girl intensely. “Tobs?”

“I’m really sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me, and I’m sorry the first time I got to say ‘I love you’ was over a text message...you deserve better than that and - I-I’m just happy and grateful to call you mine.” Tobin didn’t look anywhere else but straight at Alex, she gave the slightest of smirks as she awaited the girl’s response.

“You’re here now,” Alex said. “And we’re not a normal couple. I’m always going to be yours, Tobin,” she said and she meant it. There was no one else she’d rather have by her side than the girl right in front of her.

Tobin’s heart fluttered at Alex’s words. They were more than Tobin could have ever expected given yesterday’s events. Feeling more comfortable now that things were resolved Tobin resumed to her usual witty comments. “Well if you’re always going to be mine I guess I should always be yours huh? It’s only fair.” She said with a cheeky smile.

The younger girl couldn’t help but giggle as their typical routine returned. “I guess so, you know...if you want.”

“Oh, I insist, as long as you handle me with care y’know, I don’t come with an instruction manual”

“I guess I’ll have to make it up as I go along then,” Alex grinned, quirking an eyebrow. “That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“Such a problem” Tobin exaggerated as she leaned in to kiss Alex again.

Alex was about to let Tobin kiss her before she was reminded of something. “Oh wait!” she said, ducking out of Tobin’s direction. “So uh...Kelley isn’t the only one who knows about us...”

Tobin’s eyes grew wide as she took the information in. “Well don’t leave me hangin there!” She said curious and a little scared of who else knew.

“Well um, I didn’t actually tell her we were together,” Alex went on, not exactly sure how to break news like this to Tobin. “She was pissed and quiet yesterday before the game and then she kind of lashed out on me…” An idea came to her. “Uh, hey...do you know if Kelley’s ever mentioned being with someone?”

“Uhhhhh, yeah as a matter of fact she did, why?

“She has? Did she tell you who?” Alex asked curiously.

“Uh no? Alex? Who is it?” Tobin asked feeling more anxious by the second.

The striker looked down at her lap and quickly mumbled, “ShewaswithHopeuntilFriday.”

Tobin wasn’t sure if she was hearing things or Alex just said what she thought she said.

“What was that??” She asked to clarify.

Alex let out a sigh and bit her lip as she looked at Tobin. “Kelley was dating Hope…”

Tobin’s jaw dropped and her eyes grew even wider with surprise.

“Your Hope? Hope Solo? Hope Solo who Kelley took a PK against?!”

If this wasn’t such shocking news to Tobin, Alex would’ve laughed at her reaction. “Yes baby, my Hope. The one who--THAT’S WHY SHE FREAKED DURING PKS!” she exclaimed.

“It all makes sense now!” Tobin stated as she thought about the past month or so.

“..Did something happen between them? Kell has been acting really weird lately” Tobin asked figuring this was where the conversation was supposed to go before she freaked out.

Alex made a face, hesitating. “Well uh...Hope didn’t tell me specifics, but it may or may not have to do with us making out at the park a few days ago?”

Tobin buried her face in her hands “Well then it’s our responsibility to get them back together.” Tobin stated, a new determination in her eyes.

“And how do you suggest we do that?”

“Uhhhh we could invite them to the same masquerade unbeknownst to them?” Tobin joked .

The younger girl rolled her eyes, but a small smile found her lips anyway. “You’re such a dork, you know that?” Alex thought for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to approach the situation. Suddenly, an idea came to her.

“Hey, can you get Kelley to the indoor gym tomorrow?” she asked, her eyes lighting up.

Tobin shrugged “Uh yeah, probably! What do you have up your sleeve Morgan?”

Alex smirked. “Well…”

 

“C’mon Kell, it’ll be good for you to get your mind off of whoever it is I need to beat up” Tobin joked as she drove them to the indoor gym.

“Really Tobs, I’m fine! No one broke me! I’m still the little squirrelly ball of energy that you’ve always known.” Kelley explained.

Tobin had to mentally remind herself that Kelley didn’t know that she knew Hope was ‘the girl’ she had been talking about all along.

She sighed “Good, then a little pickup won’t hurt!”

Kelley shook her head with a chuckle “Oh Tobs..”

Tobin pulled into the parking lot and looked around for Alex’s car as planned. She spotted it and parked a few cars over. She figured, if anything went wrong at least Kelley and Hope wouldn’t have to walk side by side back to the cars.

“What’s up with you?” Kelley asked as she eyed her friend carefully.

“What? Nothing, just looking for a good spot is all.” Tobin said trying hard to not seem obvious. It had crossed her mind that her horrible acting skills could ruin the whole plan but she went along with it anyway. “Alright, Ready to go?” Tobin asked as the two headed into the gym.

“Oh Kell, let’s take a quick look at the cleats over there in the shop” Tobin said pointing to the shop next to the reception desk. Kelley looked for Servando at the desk but didn’t see him much to her relief. She lazily followed Tobin into the shop as they eyed the wall of cleats. Tobin looked down at her watch eyeing it carefully.

 

“Alex why are we here, you can’t even play,” Hope groaned, helping the injured girl out of the car.

Alex shrugged, grabbing her crutches. “I thought you could relieve some stress and whatever else you have here while I enjoy watching you almost break a wall,” she joked, grinning.

Hope chuckled softly, rolling her eyes. “You’re so weird.”

“I’m being thoughtful,” the striker corrected before hobbling into the store. She immediately found Servando and made eye contact with him. She gave a warning look before continuing to crutch over to the other employee at the desk.

Hope also saw Servando and gave him one of her infamous bitch faces before following Alex. “I still hate him,” she hissed in Alex’s ear.

“I know,” Alex murmured. Y _ou’re going to hate him even more soon_ , she thought to herself nervously. She looked at the time and knew everything was possibly going to go crazy in a few minutes.

 

Once Alex and Hope were set up, Alex took a seat on one side of the field while she watched Hope on the other, punting balls and then pounding them into the wall. She knew this wasn’t even half of what the girl was capable of, but she liked watching her anyway, seeing Hope without anything else distracting her. She turned her head to see Servando and his co-worker beginning to pass their small field and braced herself for what was coming.

“Oh dude, that small, freckled girl?” Servando asked.

“Yeah, dude her. She’s a defender I think? Number 5 or something…”

At this, Hope stuttered in her run.

“Hell yeah,” Servando nodded. “She’s so fine.”

Alex watched Hope tense up and her jaw clench.

“I’d get in her pants no problem,” Servando smirked cockily. “When I’m done with her, she won’t be able to play for days.”

The keeper had been staring at the ball in her hands but immediately dropped it when she heard the last few words. She immediately stormed over to Servando. “You think you’re hot shit or something?”

Servando looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

Hope scoffed. “You think you can get anyone you want? You think you can get into girl’s pants like that no problem?”

Servando’s co-worker took this as his cue to walk away. Servando opened his mouth to speak, but got cut off.

“It’s not fucking okay to talk about a girl like that! Especially not Kelley!”

Alex bit her lip, watching eagerly. Servando met her gaze, but Alex nodded for him to continue.

“What’s she to you, anyway?” he asked, crossing his arms. “Don’t you hate her or something?”

“Don’t fucking bring me into this!” Hope snapped. “No one fucking talks about Kelley like that! She deserves so much more respect than what you’re worth. She’d never go for you anyway,” she spat.

“What makes you so sure?”

“She has higher standards than people like you,” Hope stated, glaring at him. “Hell, I don’t think anyone’s worthy of her.”

 

“Dude if I strike it rich, i’m buying all those clea-” Kelley started but stopped as she heard a familiar voice up ahead. She looked up to see her ex confronting Servando. Getting over her initial shock, she tuned into what the keeper was saying. She only caught the last couple bits but that was enough for her. Seeing that Hope was getting more and more tense as to whatever Servando was saying back to her Kelley dropped her bag and started to run over as the girl’s fists clenched tighter.

“Bet I could get it done in a week,” Servando tested Hope, actually kind of getting anxious about what was about to happen, but knew he had to keep going.

“You’re such a fucking dick I swear,” Hope spat, her fist backing up as she got ready to swing.

“Hope!” Alex’s eyes widened, but she was almost positive the keeper couldn’t hear her over the amount of anger she had at the moment.

“Hope! Stop!” Kelley exclaimed as she jumped in between her and Servando and nudged the girl a step back.

Hope’s eyes had so many flames in them that it took a moment for her to notice Kelley. “K-kell?”

Alex quickly motioned to Tobin to get help her up so the two of them could leave before either Kelley or Hope noticed it was all planned.

Tobin sneakily rushed to Alex’s side to help her up.

“Good plan Lex” Tobin whispered with a smirk as she got the girl to her feet.

“Let it go, okay?” Kelley said softer not letting go of Hope’s still tense arms.

Hope looked at Servando, then back at Kelley, who was able to calm Hope just a little with her gentle touch. The two of them were too focused on each other to notice Alex and Tobin running off with Servando quickly following them.

“Okay,” Hope said softly, unsure of what else to say.

“I uh- should probably let go of you now too huh?” Kelley nervously stated as she released her hands from the girl’s toned arms. She didn’t realize how much she missed and maybe even needed Hope’s touch until she let go.

Before she could even think about saying no, the contact was gone and Hope found herself missing it even more than she had an hour ago. She looked at Kelley for a long moment before asking, “What are you doing here?”

“Keeping Tobin company, speaking of which, where did she go?” Kelley wondered as she did a three sixty, Tobin nowhere in sight.

Hope gave her a look before turning to check on Alex, but instead found the place the crippled girl occupied empty. The pieces clicked in her mind. “Little shits,” she hissed. “Alex is gone too.”

Kelley slowly turned to Hope as she also realized what was going on. The smallest of smiles crept onto her face as she should’ve known what was up her best friend’s sleeve. A seriousness came back as her eyes found Hope’s again.

“Well, now what?” She asked hoping the goalkeeper would know what to say.

Hope was mentally cursing Alex out in her head for setting her up like this. At the sound of Kelley’s voice, her heart thudded a little faster than it should have, faster than it had in awhile. “Well...obviously, we’ve been set up.”

“Maybe ….maybe it’s for the best” Kelley nervously said as her eyes wandered to the ground.

The keeper gave Kelley a curious expression. Though they last conversation they’d had was one with both of them yelling, Hope couldn’t find it in her to bring the anger back now. “How?”

“I um- heard you defending me just now” Kelley stated.

Hope offered a small shrug, thankful she didn’t get embarrassed easily. “He’s an asshole for saying that.”

Kelley knew her ex was a hard egg to crack but she just wished in this moment she let her walls down for once and said how she really felt.

“Listen, I’m not saying we should get back together or anything, but I’m sorry Hope, for everything.”

Hope usually wasn’t one to look back on her past. But if her past included Kelley, she’d always turn around for a reminder of what she had. She looked at the smaller girl, the freckles seeming more prominent than ever. She knew Kelley down to the curves of her bod, and it didn’t feel the same without her. Nothing felt the same without her.

“It was really stupid, I guess,” Hope mumbled. “You know I’m hot-headed sometimes.”

“It wasn’t stupid...I should have told you, you had...have every right to be mad at me” Kelley truthfully stated. She felt so small next  to Hope and she wanted nothing more than for the older girl to hold her tightly and tell her everything would be alright but she also knew life didn’t always give away happy endings so easily.

The taller girl let out an exasperated sigh, knowing exactly how this was looking to go. “Let’s not do this, Kelley.”

“Alright Hope, then I guess all that’s left to say is that.. I miss you” Kelley let out surprised at how forward she was being.

Hope looked at Kelley straight in the eyes, not even missing a beat. “I miss you too.” Majority of the time, she was the one who led. Now it was Kelley, and she was more than willing to follow Kelley’s lead.

Kelley nervously licked her bottom lip as her eyes flicked to Hope’s. She slowly moved closer to Hope and stood on her toes as she leaned up.

It was almost like instinct to Hope when she was able to process what was about to happen. She immediately grabbed Kelley’s hips, tugging her a little closer before pressing her lips against the smaller girl’s.

Kelley felt her heart skip a beat as she felt Hope’s strong hands pull her closer to the keeper. She kept her eyes shut as the two pulled away from each other. Almost breathless from the kiss she took a breath “I missed that too” She said as the smile grew on her face and she finally opened her eyes.

Hope laughed at Kelley’s comment, watching as her smile grew wider. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Alex can ride home with Tobin. We’re stealing baby horse’s jeep.”

“You thief! First my heart, and now Alex’s car?” Kelley exclaimed as she took the girl’s outstretched hand waiting for her to take it.

“Arrest me then,” the keeper teased, gladly taking Kelley’s hand as they walked out of the indoor gym.

 

Tobin squeezed Alex’s hand as they watched from their hiding spot off to the side. “We did it!” She whispered excitedly.

“She’s taking my car!” Alex whined with a big pout on her face.

“Oh c’mon Lex, look at the bigger picture here!” Tobin said with a cheeky smile all the while laughing not able to contain her punchline any longer “..At least they won’t be making out and getting their love juices all over _my_ car!”

Alex’s eyes widened as she hit Tobin’s arm. “Tobin! I hate you!”

“Love you too babe!” Tobin said still laughing as she rubbed her arm.

 


	11. Part 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Putting up fronts is exhausting, especially when you push and pull across that fine line.

Tobin mindlessly stared at the passing wave of people as they left the movie theater. Alex had decided it was time for her and Tobin to have an official movie date like ‘other couples’ so they went to go see the latest rom com that was out. Tobin spent the entirety of the movie laughing at the overly cheesy scenes while Alex punched her in the arm to shut her up. Tobin looked over to the bathroom entrance as she waited for Alex so they could leave. Before she could check her watch to see the time a familiar voice instantly stiffened her body.

“Tobs?” Ashlyn’s voice asked from afar.

Tobin slowly turned to see Allie, Ashlyn, and Cheney making their way into the theater.

“H-Hey guys!”

“What are you doing at the movies alone??” Allie asked curiously.

“Maybe she’s not alone, eh?” Ashlyn quipped as she nudged Allie and Lauren on both sides of her.

The three stared at the girl even more intently as they waited for her response.

Tobin gave a nervous smile as her eyes darted from girl to girl. This was bad news, and she knew it. She just wondered how she was going to make it out of the night alive.

“I like going to the movies alone actually!” She finally said as confidently as she could.

“What did you see?” Lauren asked not convinced .

“Uhhh- that new one..about the girl who falls in love-” She began until Ashlyn cut her off.

“You went to go see a rom com by yourself? Now I know you’re hiding something!” She exclaimed.

Tobin shook her head “Guys, I swear I went to go see a rom com by myself! Why is that so hard to believe?” She knew immediately why it was so hard to believe as soon as the question came out of her mouth.

“Hey is that? Oh my god, it’s Morgan!” Allie said fuming as she said Alex’s name.

Tobin swallowed hard as she turned to find Alex looking for her. She found the girl’s eyes as she gave her a warning look of _run as far away as you can_.

Alex was about to open her mouth to call for Tobin, but stopped dead in her tracks when she found her girlfriend with Allie Long, Ashlyn and Lauren. When she met Tobin’s eyes, she knew she had to leave before anything else could happen. Slowly, she turned around and made her way out, but were stopped by the sight of her two teammates and friends.

“Alex!” Sydney screeched, running over to her as she dragged Kristie along. “What are you doing here?”

 _Worst timing ever_ , Alex thought, wincing a little. “I got bored at home, so uh I came here.”

“Why didn’t you call us?” Kristie questioned, quirking an eyebrow. “You’re never here alone.”

“Unless she’s with a date!” Sydney pointed out.

Alex let out an uneasy laugh. “No guys, I’m not on a date. I’m-”

Sydney’s gasp cut her off. “What the hell are they doing here?”

Alex looked at Sydney and the turned to see Ashlyn already glaring at her friend. “Oh my god,” she murmured. “Come on guys, let’s go out to eat,” she tried.

Kristie looked at Sydney. “Yeah...that’s not happening tonight.”

The two helplessly watched as Sydney and Ashlyn continued to glare at each other, and Alex didn’t have to turn around to know Allie was glaring daggers at her.

“You here to spill shit on me again?” Sydney asked, advancing towards the four rivals.

“No,” Alex groaned softly, mostly to herself as she and Kristie followed Sydney over there.

Tobin began to feel sick to her stomach as the familiar scene began to play out. This was not how the night was supposed to be going at all. Noticing Allie and Ashlyn already getting ready for a fight she put a hand on both their shoulders. “C’mon guys, not tonight. We’re better than this”

Ashlyn barely seemed to notice Tobin’s presence as she took a step forward to Leroux. “Well no, but since you’re asking..” she snarkily replied with a shit-eating grin on her face.

“You’re so low,” Sydney spat, starting to advance on Ashlyn.

“Woah, no no,” Kristie said suddenly, holding Sydney back. “Hey captain,” she said, aiming her glare at Tobin. “Control your keeper before my friend rips her apart.”

Tobin was all too willing to oblige even though she knew Ashlyn could probably just as easily rip Sydney apart. “Ash, seriously! Give it a rest!” Tobin called out as she stepped in between her and Sydney putting herself in yet another situation to get decked again.

“Sydney,” Alex snapped, glaring at her friend. “It’s not worth it. Let’s go.”

Ashlyn backed off a little as Tobin got in front of her. She shook her head as she pushed back towards Allie and Cheney listening to her friend for once. She stopped in her tracks as Leroux’s voice filled her ears yet again, this time really hitting hard.

Sydney wasn’t willing to listen to Alex. “I know one of you wants to hit me. Especially for that jab I took at your little captain that one time. Come on, do it! What are you, weak? Huh Allie?”

“SYDNEY!” Alex gaped.

“Syd, what the hell?” Kristie glared at her best friend.

“Why not you, Heath? Make it even,” Sydney smirked.

Alex tightened her grip on the fellow forward’s arm. “Sydney. Leroux.”

She wasn’t heard at all.

Tobin did her best to keep her emotions out of the situation but she couldn’t help it as much as she told Alex she could handle it. She figured she’d try one more time just being the ‘bigger person’.

“You’re not worth my time” She sternly stated, her eyes not wavering from Sydney’s eyes.

“Syd let’s go,” Kristie begged quietly, trying to get her best friend to listen to her.

“Not worth it or do you just want to run away from your problems?” Sydney challenged. Little did she know, she’d hit home with her comment. But Alex knew, causing her hand to squeeze tighter on Sydney’s arm. The squeezing proved to be uneffective when Sydney continued. “Some captain you are."

Tobin clenched her jaw even tighter as it felt like her insides were caving in. She couldn’t look at Alex, she could barely keep looking at Sydney. She knew the comment was most likely to get a reaction from her but nothing felt more real than the pain inside of her. She snapped not knowing how she could ever walk away from a comment like the one aimed at her.

“It’s about time you fucking shut up Leroux, you have no idea who I am or what I’m about so shut your mouth for once and you might learn something” Tobin spat, serious as ever not willing to back down from this one.

“Don’t talk to my player like that,” Alex warned, trying to get Tobin to stop what she was doing.

“No Alex,” Sydney said through gritted teeth. “She wants to talk shit? Go ahead Heath.”

Tobin expected to hear Sydney’s voice come right back at her but her girlfriend’s raspy voice filled her ears instead. She instantly looked to Alex who gave her a look of warning. Tobin was only intensified by her glare and disregarded the warning as she took Sydney’s offer instead.

“You’re not much of a captain either if you can’t control your teammates. You’re no better than me, Don’t try and be the hero Alex.” Tobin said, a roughness on her usual smooth voice. She felt the tears threatening to break but she resisted as she stared hard at the others.

Tobin’s words stung Alex as soon as they’d finished. She knew they had a part to play, but she was almost positive it never was supposed to amount to this. Tears began to sting her eyes, but she did her best to fight them off. It wasn’t time to cry. Not now.

“Don’t you fucking talk about my captain like that!” Sydney yelled.

“I’m right here!” Alex reminded her, trying to steady her voice. “I can speak for myself if I want to.”

She tried to make eye contact with Tobin and give her a look saying it was time to go, but Tobin was hardly even recognizable at this point. She was fueled by anger and emotions, possibly both her strength and weakness.

The forwad didn’t want it to come to this, but she saw no other choice than to look weak. “At least my teammates don’t do crazy when they’re pissed off like yours.” She looked at her two teammates. “Let’s go. Now.”

She spun around before Tobin or any of her teammates could make a comment, quickly walking away. She continued to blink back tears. With a hard tug, Sydney turned around and had Kristie drag her out of the theater.

The hardest part about everything that just happened was that even if Tobin didn’t mean it, Alex’s heart still hurt.

Tobin let out an exasperated breath as if she was exhausted from the encounter. She was mad, and unwilling to accept the fact that things were out of control, that she was out of control. She turned back around after a few heavy breaths to face her friends and teammates. Ashlyn and Allie looked surprised and Lauren was obviously disappointed in her. Tobin felt so riled up from the fight that she wasn’t even sure if what she said was what she really felt or just a way to fight back. She clenched her jaw even tighter as she stormed out of the theater, not bothering to stop as her teammates called after her.

The rush of air instantly chilled her as the sun had set and the darkness of the night surrounded her. She was all alone, and Alex, her ride, was gone as well. She figured taking a walk home was probably for the best anyways so as to ease her mind. She tried to remember life before she began seeing Alex as anything more than just her rival but she couldn’t. _Was life easier then? Was it more complicated now?_ she wondered. She didn’t want to fight, she just never imagined a world where her and Alex didn’t fight.

 

Alex asked Sydney to drive her home while Kristie followed them behind. Although she was off of her crutches, she was still in a boot and it was difficult for her to drive with it on. She didn’t think she could handle driving anyway, the tears were becoming harder to blink back. The first five minutes of the ride were silent save for the radio’s top 40.

“I can’t believe that,” Alex finally muttered, looking out her window.

“Me either!” Sydney exclaimed. “Who the fuck does Tobin Heath think she is?! I get Allie Long - the girl has no sense in her anyway - but Heath?!”

“Sydney,” Alex sighed, shaking her head.

“No, I’m serious Alex,” Sydney went on. “Where does she get off talking all that shit about you?”

Even though Sydney had no idea what was going on behind everything, she still had a point. Where did Tobin get the reason to talk like that? Sure, they had to pretend to be rivals, but that never meant they needed to insult each other directly. _Did Tobin actually mean it? Am I a bad captain?_ she thought, trying to make sense of it all.

“I don’t know,” Alex shrugged, not looking at her friend. “Maybe she was just pissed…”

“She’s so fucking full of it,” Sydney muttered, glaring at the road.

“Am I a bad captain?” she asked aloud, looking at Sydney for an honest answer.

Sydney looked at her for a second before returning her attention to the road. “What? No! Alex, you’re crazy! You’re a great captain! You’ve grown up and become a leader. You should see Hope sometimes. She’s so proud of you, Al. We all are. There’s no one else any of us would rather have as captain.”

Alex managed a fake smile, but it quickly faltered as Tobin’s words returned to her. Tobin did have a point - she couldn’t control Sydney at all. And she was hiding a big secret from her team. They both were. Maybe it was better if the secret didn’t exist at all. If they never created it. It would be less pain.

“Ignore Tobin,” Sydney suggested. “She’s a piece of shit that--”

“Syd!” Alex scolded, glaring at her. Even if she was mad at Tobin, she didn’t want her best friend talking about her girlfriend like that. “Let’s drop it now, okay?”

Sydney sensed Alex’s anger and nodded slowly. “Okay.”

 

Tobin finally reached her house feeling a little more calm but still heated for the most part. She had expected a text from Alex by that point but no such text had come. She decided to take matters into her own hands as she searched her deep pockets for her phone.

 

**You know it’s true...Leroux just needs to shut up**

 

Alex stared at her phone for a long moment, Sydney and Kristie were busy indulging themselves in chinese take out they’d ordered. She bit the inside of her cheek. Of course Tobin was right, but she wasn’t about to agree with her. Sydney was one of her best friends, it wasn’t right. Slowly, she typed back a response.

 

**Tobin, we need to talk about this. In person.**

 

Tobin knew the conversation wouldn’t be pretty. She needed answers though before she attempted to fix whatever was broken between her and Alex.

 

**Sometimes you have to let things get out of your control Alex..it’ll do you and us good.**

 

Tobin hit send being fully honest with the girl.

 

Alex read the message and clenched her jaw. She knew Tobin was telling the truth, but she wasn’t even sure what was “good” for her and Tobin. Was there any good for them?

 

**I’ll see you tomorrow Tobin. I’ll come over.**

  
  


Tobin stared down at the message. She was tense all over. She threw the nearest pillow to the wall as hard as she could in frustration and rolled over digging her head underneath the remaining pillows.

  
  


The next day Tobin found herself in the same position she was in before she fell asleep. She lifted her head up from under the pillow to the bright light of the sun shining through her window. She squinted her eyes and blinked slowly as she adjusted to the lightness. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head as she checked the time on her phone. It was 10:30 in the morning, she had gotten over nine hours of sleep yet still felt exhausted from the previous night’s fight. She slowly made her way to the bathroom to wash her face.

On the second splash of water she heard the doorbell ring. She looked at herself in the mirror before making her way downstairs. The scar on her face from Sydney’s punch had finally healed but was still noticeable. She threw her hood up as she opened the door to a tired looking Alex.

“Hi,” Alex said quietly.

She’d hardly gotten any sleep last night. After Sydney and Kristie had gone home, she stayed up in her bed trying to make sense of everything. There had to be some logical way to fix this besides telling everyone the truth. She loved Tobin and she wanted to make it work more than anything, but she wasn’t sure if this love was worth all the snarky comments and false fronts they had to put up when they were around other people.

Tobin remained silent as she stood aside to let Alex in. She made her way to the living room where she sat in a chair for one and Alex sat on the couch. Awkwardness settled in the air as Tobin remained quiet and kept her eyes on anything but Alex.

The forward knew she had to speak or else they’d sit in silence forever. “Tobin, this is a mess.”

Tobin finally looked over to the girl’s fidgety hands and finally to her honest eyes.

“It is a mess...a mess I-you- we chose…. a mess we chose.” She repeated as if fault was to be put on themselves and themselves only.

Alex nodded slowly, understanding Tobin completely without having to ask for clarification. After thinking for hours, she had come to a decision. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

“You see, the situation gets a little bit out of your control and then you’re calling it quits!” Tobin said as her voice started to rise again as if she never came down from last night.

“I’m not calling it quits!” Alex argued, crossing her arms. “And ‘a little bit out of my control’?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You are calling it quits, and you know exactly what that means…” Tobin stated as she looked back at the girl who looked just as vulnerable as she felt in that moment. “If we lost and you won, things would be ..different.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Alex shook her head, not wanting to hear anymore of where Tobin’s words were going. “I’m not...no. Just listen to me for a second,” she requested. “I’m not calling it quits, Tobin. I love you, and I need you to know that, but I’m so tired of the fighting. I’m so tired of the hostility. And I’m tired of you saying things you may or may not actually mean when we’re put in those situations.”

Tobin grew quiet again after Alex’s statement. It was the first time she had heard her say that she loved her. She never imagined it would be under such circumstances.

She let out a frustrated sigh “So what are you saying Alex? What now?” Tobin asked.

The striker bit her lip, looking down for a moment. She didn’t want it to come to this, but she had no other choice. Slowly, she lifted her head and met Tobin’s soft brown eyes. “It’s time to choose Tobin. We can’t keep this rivalry up forever and deep down you know that. It’s either us or the rivalry. I already know what I’m going to pick.”

Tobin knew this moment was going to come sooner or later, she had just hoped she would know the answer by the time it did. She loved Alex, she did. She hated the rivalry, always had. The decision seemed easy enough. She could’ve told Alex right then and there that she loved her, and it wasn’t even a question as to what she would choose. But things were more complicated than that. It was more than just ‘Alex or the rivalry’. It was risking her friendships, her title as captain, her life as she had known it up till then. Tobin had always been an honest person and she knew she had to be especially honest with herself now.

 _Was staying with Alex best for her? Or was breaking things off for the best?_ Her mind was racing as she blankly stared at Alex. A slow sadness crept onto the striker’s face as Tobin remained speechless.

 _Say something, Tobin.._ she said to herself as she watched Alex get up and head towards the door, a silent tear running down the girl’s face.

The first three seconds after Alex finished speaking, she knew this wasn’t going to be decided then and there. She’d initially had hope that Tobin would be able to give her answer without hesitation, but she didn’t and it scared Alex. She was putting everything on the line for the girl in front of her, but it seemed like Tobin wasn’t ready to do the same for her. She knew this wasn’t an easy decision, but for Alex it was time that everyone got over the rivalry. She was well aware of the consequences that would ensue if Tobin picked her. She could’ve gotten through them with Tobin by her side. But Tobin seemed to be slowly slipping away from her the longer she didn’t speak.

Knowing no answer would come, she stood. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she walked past Tobin to the door. She wanted to tell her she’d wait, that she’d be patient until Tobin gave her an answer, but none of those words came out. Instead, all she said as she reached the door was a closing.

It was like slow motion as Tobin breathed in Alex’s light perfume one last time. The girl’s light brown hair fell perfectly over her shoulders as she walked away. She still couldn’t manage to say anything but Alex did. It was all Tobin heard and it was everything she didn’t want to hear.

"Goodbye Tobin."

There was no response.


	12. Part 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Radio silence on both ends brings it back to the start.

Alex was solely running on the small amounts of food she had claimed were meals, coffee and gatorade. She hadn’t heard from Tobin in three days and had no idea if the girl had made up her mind or not. It was worse than not seeing her girlfriend at all last week because this time there was no promise of still being together when it was all over. It was either yes or no.

Her classes seemed ten times longer as each day passed, but anything that happened in them was a complete blur. Practices were difficult to get through, her performance slipping. Alex had never hit a point this low. She didn’t even know it was possible. But there she was because she wasn’t sure if she still had a girlfriend.

“Alex, what’s wrong?” Hope asked in a quiet tone as the two walked in silence towards the locker rooms one day.

“How bad do I look?” Alex asked in return.

“On a scale of one to ten? I’d say about a seven...but you’re slowly climbing to the ten,” Hope admitted, an apologetic smirk on her lips.

The striker let out a long sigh, running a hand through her messy hair. “This has never happened to me before, Hope.”

“I can see that,” the keeper nodded slowly.

“It’s Tobin,” the younger girl whispered. Saying the name aloud made the situation more real than it had been a moment ago. “We’re…”

A look of concern immediately swept over the keeper’s face. “What? Did you guys break up?”

Alex bit her lip. “I don’t know..”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I told her she had to pick me or the rivalry,” the smaller girl explained, playing with the strings of her hoodie. “Every time we see each other in public she ends up taking it too far and I’m sick of it.”

Hope eyed her carefully. “Are you saying that you’d go public with this?’

Alex nodded slowly. “For her, yeah. For us to stop worrying about hiding and not being seen.”

“Huh,” Hope nodded slowly. “Kelley and I never talked about that.”

“Well you and Kelley aren’t captains of rival teams. At least Kelley isn’t the one making snide comments towards you every damn time,” the striker snapped harshly. Once the words were out of her mouth, she realized the tone they were delivered in. “Shit, I’m sorry Hope, I didn’t-”

The older girl put a hand up to stop her. “No, I get it Alex. Look, just hang in there. Maybe Tobin’s still trying to figure out all the consequences of each decision.”

“Really?” Alex asked weakly, looking for any type of hope to hold on to.

Hope offered a small shrug. “Only time will tell.” With that, she walked into the locker room without another word.

It was enough to get Alex through the afternoon.

 

It was the same as the night before, and the night before that. Tobin was restless and falling asleep was the last thing on her mind. As soon as she closed her eyes images of a disappointed Alex filled her conscience. The only thing she heard were the girl’s last words _Goodbye Tobin_ and she wondered how permanent that statement was to Alex.

Tobin’s days were consumed with silence now that her ability or want to speak was ripped from her last conversation. Her teammates were worried about her, especially Kelley who suspected what was going on. It had been four days since the conversation with Alex and finally giving up on her patience, Kelley cornered her friend.

“Tobin? What the heck is going on?!” Kelley exclaimed as she barged into Tobin’s room.

A little startled but not fully surprised at seeing Kelley in her doorway Tobin merely sighed.

“Kell, I’m fine, just a lot on my mind lately.” She mumbled out as she resumed to laying back and staring at her ceiling.

Kelley furrowed her brow as she stared at her friend in disbelief. She looked around the mess of a room which was usually tidy and simple.

“You’re not fine, this is a mess, and I know it’s because of Alex! Now spit it out Heath!” Kelley said as she took a step closer to her friend.

Tobin nearly cringed at the sound of her girlfriend’s name. “I’ll clean it, there’s just a few extra things lying around” Tobin stated.

“I’m not talking about your room….Tobs...what happened?” Kelley asked softer as she sat down beside the girl.

Tobin sat up on her elbows as she looked to her friend. She knew Kelley wouldn’t leave until she told her so she did the best she could to explain her impossible situation.

“Alex gave me a choice. Our relationship or the rivalry… “

“Oh..well that’s an easy choice? I mean you seem crazy about her.” Kelley reasoned, confused now as to where the difficulty lay.

“I am crazy about her, it’s just...everything would change if I fully committed you know?”

“Yeah, I know” Kelley said with a nod as she knew all too well what it was like having a secret relationship with someone she wasn’t supposed to be with.

“You’ll figure it out though Tobs, just follow your heart” Kelley said with a serious expression.

 

Tobin bit her bottom lip as she thought hard about her heart’s direction. She concluded that Kelley was at least right about one thing.

_This is a mess._

  
  


“Here,” Sydney slid over a Starbucks cup to Alex during lunch. “You really need it.”

Alex managed a weak smile. “Thanks Syd,” she nodded, taking a sip of the cold drink.

Her hair was up in a careless bun and she hadn’t even bothered to wear make up. Though Hope’s words had sparked something in her for a few hours, it had quickly faded when Alex had woken up to another morning without a reply. Her hope was wearing thin, but she was still holding out. Yet it seemed more and more likely that she’d spoken her last words to Tobin when she walked away.

“Al, I’m concerned,” Sydney started with a frown. “You look like hell and you’re losing yourself in practice.”

“Wow thanks, I couldn’t tell,” Alex rolled her eyes, not in the mood to be generous.

“Is this about Servando?”

Alex gave her best friend a strange look. Out of all possible things that could have upset her, Sydney decided to bring up Servando. “Sydney, that was a couple of weeks ago.”

Sydney’s eyes widened. “You hesitated in answering! I was right!” she declared, standing from her chair and slamming her hands on the table.

“Sydney!” Alex hissed through clenched teeth. Though she loved the girl to death, causing a scene wasn’t helping her mood in the slightest.

“Sorry,” the other striker apologized, slinking back into her seat.

As Sydney took her seat again, Alex realized that she had no other excuses to come up with for why she was upset. She could always admit the truth to Sydney, but it was evident the girl had a burning hatred for Tobin and anyone on the rival team. Plus, she still had no answer from Tobin. So she went along with it.

“Okay fine, you got me. It’s Servando,” Alex sighed dramatically, trying not to roll her eyes as she said it.

“Ha!” Sydney smirked, then became the considerate friend she was when it came to relationships and things of the like. “Girl, I don’t know why you’re even upset. He’s an ass.”

The striker knew she had to sell this one or else she’d have to confess. So she allowed her shoulders to droop and her eyes focus on the drink in front of her. “I know,’ she nodded. “but he was just so damn charming for so long...’

“That’s how he reeled you in. Hell, he had me reeled in _for_ you,” Sydney explained, shaking her head. “He’s old news now Al. No point in looking back.”

“If you say so,” Alex mumbled, but her mind was on Tobin. What was her girlfriend - or ex now, Alex wasn’t even sure what the title was - up to now?

“I know what you need!”

“Sleep?” Alex suggested.

“A date!” Sydney exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Alex internally groaned. “With who?”

“Nathan!” her teammate beamed, obviously proud of herself for coming up with the perfect plan.

“Nathan as in...swim team Nathan Adrian?” Alex asked, trying to figure out just who Sydney was trying to play Cupid with.

Sydney nodded eagerly, eyes lighting up. Alex knew the girl was already planning out the date. “Yes! You know he had a major crush on you freshmen year.”

Alex crinkled her nose a little. “Syd, that was freshmen year.”

“So? I can re-kindle his love,” Sydney smirked, then added. “You know...as long as you don’t look like hell.”

“Thanks,” Alex glared at her.

“Just saying,” Sydney shrugged with a sing-song tone. “But come on, he’s totally into it!”

Alex spit out the most recent sip of her drink she’d had. “You already talked to him about it?!”

“Well yeah,” Sydney nodded as if it was no big deal. “You look like you need something to get you out of this. I’m trying to help.”

 _It would help if you could get my girlfriend here_ , Alex thought to herself, then realized it was a bad idea when the thoughts of Tobin once again returned to her.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to go out with him,” Alex said out loud.

“Alex, why not?!”

“Nathan’s  nice and all, but he’s not for me,” Alex said, hanging her head low. “And I don’t feel like going out.”

There was only one person for Alex; someone she was ready to commit to. She’d talked to Nathan a few times over the past couple of years, but she couldn’t go out with him when she was technically still with someone. She wouldn’t want to even if she wasn’t. Tobin had come in and changed everything.

“Aw come on,” Sydney pouted.

Alex firmly shook her head. “I can’t, Sydney. I just really can’t. Maybe it’s better if I’m left alone,” she insisted, standing from her seat. “I’ll see you at practice,” she nodded before walking away.

She wasn’t sure how many more days she could go without hearing a final answer from Tobin. What scared her most was to officially know the answer wasn’t her.

 

It had been a week and Tobin hadn’t made a decision yet. She wondered if it was even her decision to make anymore. Had she waited too long? Had Alex moved on and given up on her already? She wanted so badly to call her and tell her she had made up her mind. But she knew that she had to be one hundred percent sure in order to make that call. And she wasn’t. Tobin was never one to over think many things. In fact spontaneity was always considered one of her most prominent attributes. This was different though. This was Alex, and everything was on the line. Or at least it felt like it was.

Not knowing the reason for Tobin’s odd behavior, her teammates each tried to cheer their captain up as her performance began to drop significantly in practice.  

Lauren was especially worried for her friend who was usually never frustrated or sad about anything for too long.

“Hey Tobs! I have a friend I want you to meet if you’re free tonight?” Cheney excitedly said with a grin.

Tobin smirked “I’m not in any mood to be going out tonight, thanks though Chen.”

“C’mon, just come eat with us, one night Tobin!”

It was then Tobin realized just how pathetically mopey she had let herself get in the past week without Alex. So much so, that her friends were nearly dragging her out to be normal again. With this epiphany she reluctantly put on her best ‘happy’ face and agreed to meet Cheney’s mystery friend that night.

“I knew you’d come around, We’ll pick you up at 7 okay?” Lauren said with a wink as she left the locker room .

 

Tobin blankly stared at her closet of clothes as she wondered who Cheney’s friend was and what the night held. She finally decided on jean shorts and a white v-neck, not aiming to impress anyone. Lauren picked her up at 7 like she said and informed Tobin that they were meeting her friend at the restaurant, a higher end restaurant, yet still casual.

“Tobin, this is my friend Jeremy, Jer, this is Tobin.” Lauren said, hope in her eyes as she watched the two interact.

Tobin lazily took the guy’s hand still oblivious to the fact that Lauren was attempting to play cupid.

“Nice to meet you Tobin” Jeremy said with a smile.

“Nice to meet you too John” Tobin said seemingly distracted.

“It’s Jeremy” he said with a lighthearted laugh.

Noticing her mistake Tobin turned a shade darker in embarrassment “Oh sorry! I’m just a little out of it!” She said perking up a little as she tried to recover.

“It’s alright, we all have those days” He said as he scooted Tobin’s and then Lauren’s chair in as they sat down.

 

It had been twenty minutes and Lauren finally decided to leave her two friends alone for awhile while she ‘made a phone call’. Alone now, Tobin grew more nervous as she fully realized what was happening. Cheney was trying to set her up and now she was stuck at this restaurant, all alone with this guy. She wondered how she would get herself out of this one.

“So I don’t mean to pry, but where did that scar on your cheek come from?” Jeremy asked as he pointed to the spot where Sydney’s fist met Tobin’s face.

“Uhhhh you don’t want to know” Tobin awkwardly said as she touched the spot on her face full of bad memories.

“Well however you got it, it doesn't detract from your beautiful smile” he stated with a shy smile himself.

 _How do I get myself in these situations?_ Tobin thought as she forced a smile hoping Cheney would come back soon to rescue her.

 

Alex had been planning on falling asleep as she watched Netflix for her night, but apparently her friends had other plans. Yael insisted they go out. They could do anything Alex wanted or nothing at all, as long as Alex wasn’t left at home to mope by herself. Yael had been chosen by her teammates to do the job because Sydney’s initial attempt hadn’t worked and Hope claimed to be busy that evening already.

So there they were, at a restaurant Yael’s sister worked at, waiting to be seated.

“Alex, I’m making you eat everything you order,” Yael announced, giving her a look. “You’ve hardly eaten and I think you’re losing weight.”

Alex only offered a shrug. “Okay.”

Yael let out a quiet sigh, knowing whatever was affecting her teammate needed to be stopped. It was doing no good for the team to have Alex’s game completely off, especially when no one had seen her quite like this.

The two were seated and Yael immediately picked up her menu, exploring options that would be good for the both of them to eat. She began to suggest things out loud, mainly talking to herself because she wasn’t expecting Alex to be responsive as much as she usually was. Alex’s eyes gazed over the menu, but she was unable to make out any words. Her condition had gotten worse as the week had gone by, and she was giving up all hope on Tobin. There were times she’d wanted to text Tobin and ask her just to get it over with, but stopped herself every time. Tobin would come to a decision when she was ready and she’d share her decision. Or at least that’s why Alex tried to tell herself.

Tired of looking at the menu and not actually reading, her eyes wandered around the restaurant, taking in all the people that were there. She spotted a few couples out on a date and it felt like lead in her heart because it reminded her of Tobin, who wasn’t with her and typically couldn’t be with her in public. Just as she was about to suggest to Yael that she wasn’t hungry, her eyes fell on two teenagers a few tables away. There was a handsome guy maybe a year older than her talking softly to the girl across from him. He seemed shy and bashful, but he seemed to be able to carry on a conversation. It was obvious he was into whoever he was talking to: his elbows were propped up and he leaned in just a little. Curiosity getting the best of Alex, she shifted her eyes over a little to take a look at the girl. Her heart stopped.

Across from the handsome boy sat a girl she hadn’t spoken to in a week. She was dressed simply, but it fit her perfectly. Her interest was in the boy, but Alex couldn’t see any signs of uneasiness or unhappiness anywhere on the girl’s expression or posture. It almost seemed like she was enjoying herself. Then it hit her. _It’s a date._

“Yael,” she said suddenly, dropping her menu. “I can’t be here.”

The midfielder frowned. “Al, what are you talking about? We literally just got here.”

Alex shook her head. “No,” she said, her throat tightening and her eyes stinging. “I can’t. I have to go. I can’t be here.” She abruptly stood up and made her way to the exit, thankful she was out of her boot and her injury had healed almost a week ago.

She made it to the parking lot before everything began to give out. She put a hand on the closest car, hunching over as she let out a soft cry. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to take steady breaths. Her heart hurt a thousand times more than it had throughout the past week and her whole body shook. She wasn’t even sure if she could stay upright for much longer.

She’d seen Tobin. Tobin was with that guy. Tobin was having a nice time with that guy. Tobin was on a date with that guy. Tobin had made her decision.

The choice wasn’t Alex.

 

Tobin was getting tired of faking a smile but soon realized she would have to keep going as Lauren had seemingly gotten lost. Jeremy was trying very hard to start conversation with her but she was having none of it. The only thing looming on her mind was Alex’s ultimatum and what she should do about it. She let her mind wander as Jeremy recanted a story about his youth football team. She wondered what would happen if Alex or Hope were to see her and suddenly grew a little nervous at the thought of it.

“Are you okay?” She heard Jeremy say as he looked at Tobin curiously.

“-Uh yeah! Sorry, something just came to mind.”

“Care to share?” He asked with a casual grin.

Tobin wanted nothing more, actually. All she wanted to do was tell him that she was already in a relationship. She wanted to tell him how perfect Alex’s eyes were, how cute she was when she was mad, or how her raspy voice sent chills up her back. But she couldn’t. She could tell he suspected the issue was something more serious than just a simple forgetting or blip.

He sighed “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know?” He offered with kind eyes.

Tobin looked at him apologetically “I’m sorry, Jeremy… Friends?” She asked sincerely hoping she could get to know him better, but just as friends.

“Deal” He said with a knowing smirk.

Lauren came back a moment later “Sorry, I ran into a friend on the way back!” She said although both Tobin and Jeremy knew the real reason she was gone for so long. “What did I miss?” Lauren asked excitedly.

“Well Chen, Jeremy and I just made a deal to be friends!” Tobin said.

“Yup! We’re kinda like besties already.” Jeremy joked.

“Ohhhh” Lauren said with a nod thinking she had done something really well with setting the two of them up.

The three joked and laughed as they shared a giant piece of chocolate cake. It almost felt like the ‘pre-Alex’ Tobin she thought as she went in for another forkful of cake. She felt carefree with no obligations, and more importantly no secrets. She wondered what Alex was doing in that exact moment. Tobin wondered if Alex was enjoying life without her. Was she laughing like they do when they’re together? Were her eyes lighting up like they did when she looked at Tobin?

  
  


Alex’s eyelids felt heavier than usual and she could feel the dried tear stains on her face before she even opened her eyes. Sleep had somehow found her the previous night through the crying and then wishful thinking she’d drowned herself in. It was a Saturday and because they didn’t have a game her coach was holding morning a training session that morning to keep them intact. There was only a week or so left of season and they had to make it count. But Alex didn’t want to go. She wasn’t sure if she’d momentarily lost her love for soccer or just her love for everything. She couldn’t feel anything but depression.

Once she reached the field with her teammates beginning to warm up, she tried to forget about anything and everything. It immediately deemed impossible as soon as she laced up her cleats and found herself thinking of the time she and Tobin played pick up. It didn’t get any easier from there. Her teammates were a constant reminder of Tobin and the rivalry and how she wasn’t as important as keeping up the front.

Alex’s energy was gone. She hardly tried for any drill their coach put them through. Yael watched her with worried eyes, but Alex pretended not to notice. She knew her teammates were quickly catching on to her attitude, but she didn’t look any of them in the eye unless necessary. Two hours was a long time for her to be under the concerned gazes from her girls.

Just as Alex had taken off her cleats, Hope took a seat next to her. Alex didn’t acknowledge her presence at all.

“This rivalry isn’t worth shit,” Hope said in a hushed tone, her intense gaze on Alex.

Alex’s whole body stiffened as she realized Hope knew what was wrong without even asking. “Apparently it is to her,” she mumbled somewhat bitterly.

The keeper shook her head. “She’s stupid for that. This rivalry’s gone too far and I’m fucking sick of it.”

The striker only nodded.

“She loves you,” Hope continued. “She just needs to stop being so scared.”

Alex shook her head. “You don’t get it,” she whispered, looking down at the cleats in her hands. “I saw her. Last night.”

“You two talked?”

“No. She was..with someone else?”

“A teammate?”

Alex swallowed the lump in her throat. “A date.”

Hope looked at her with a confused expression. “Date?”

“With some guy,” the forward went on. It was the most she’d said in the past twelve hours. “They were having a good time.”

“Did she see you?”

“No, I left as soon as I saw.”

None of it made any sense to Hope. From what Kelley had told her, it seemed like Tobin was as lost as Alex had been the past week. “Are you sure?”

“It’s been a week Hope,” she rasped, blinking back tears that were beginning to appear again. “She’s made up her mind.”

“You’re worth more than this damn rivalry Alex,” Hope promised, her eyes seeming to burn holes into Alex’s skin for their intensity. “So much more.”

Alex only hummed in response, believing that if she tried to open her mouth, no words would come out due to the tightness of her throat. Never in her life had she felt so empty and lost. Everything changed in a month and now she was back to zero.

 

Hope put her hair up in a towel after pulling on some shorts and an old t-shirt. She’d just taken a hot shower after practice, trying to clear her head from everything that was going on with her team, especially Alex. Suddenly her phone rang and she quickly picked it up realizing it was Kelley.

“Hey babe, what’s up?”

“Hey so you remember my friend from the party last weekend, the field hockey girl?”

The keeper thought for a moment, trying to recall an image of said girl. “Umm..yeah, what about her?”

“She’s throwing another party this weekend and told me to invite my soccer friends! Soooo you’re coming, and I think we should invite some of our teammates!” Kelley excitedly said hopeful that peace between the two rival teams was possible.

“Wait wait, did you say _our_ teammates, as in...bring our rivalry into the party?” the older girl asked for clarification, as if she hadn’t heard Kelley correctly.

Kelley knew it was risky and by all means it could blow up in their faces, but she also knew she had enough with the rivalry.  “ I’m done with the rivalry, Hope. And I know a lot of my teammates are as well. There’s no reason for us to continue the legacy of hating each other!”

Hope let out a long sigh. “I know you want to just end all this stupid shit, but what do you really think is going to happen once our teammates see each other?”

“Things will always be bad before they get better!” She stated confidently.

“I feel like you’re too optimistic about this,” the older girl frowned. “but okay. We’ll go along with your idea and see how this goes. I’ll see you tonight baby,” she promised, smiling a little as she finished her sentence.

Kelley sensed Hope’s hesitation as she tried her best to smile for reassurance. She had no idea how the night would play out, but she knew to expect the unexpected at the very least.

 

Three hours ago, Alex had been notified in the team’s group text that there was a party going on and everyone who could needed to be there. Of course, the forward was ready to opt out of the party, but Hope had immediately ordered Sydney and Kristie over to Alex’s house to get ready and make sure she didn’t stay at home. Alex had simply laid on her bed, knowing her two teammates would be over in less than twenty minutes. She didn’t want to go anywhere; she hadn’t felt like doing anything in a long time. Nothing seemed right without Tobin, especially since Tobin seemed to be happy without her.

But there Alex was, at some place she wasn’t familiar with surrounded by teammates who were all doing their part to try to cheer the girl up. It wasn’t that she wasn’t grateful for them - she was, really - it was just that no matter how hard she tried, nothing ever seemed fun or motivating for her.

  
  


Tobin had just put some sweats on when she heard a loud rap on her front door. Before she could reach the stair to see who it was, her mom had opened it and Kelley was flying up the stairs like nothing else mattered.

“Whoa Kell? What are you doing-?” Tobin began but was stopped as her friend grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back into her room.

She hurriedly began to dig through Tobin’s closet looking for something.

“Kelley?!” Tobin exclaimed confused as to what her best friend was up to now.

“Hmmm this won’t work” Kelley said as she held up a shirt to Tobin.

“Where are we going?!” Tobin asked a little louder, demanding an explanation.

“Here, put this on, we’re going to a party!” Kelley excitedly said knowing Tobin needed to get out.

“A party? Dude, I’m already in my sweats, i’m not going to a party tonight!” Tobin stated.

“You never know who you’ll meet at a party.” Kelley suggested with a smirk and a wink.

“Oh shut it squirrel” Tobin said turning red as the memory of the masquerade popped back into her head.

“C’mon, just get dressed, it’ll be fun!”

Tobin sighed not willing to fight this one, she gave in “Fine, but promise me no drama, okay?”

Kelley put her hands up innocently “No drama, promise!” she said hoping she would be able to keep that promise.

 

“Have fun and don’t drink too much,” Hope ordered her teammates who were taking in the new scene.

“Wait, where are you going?” Whitney asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hope smirked, feeling a bit of confidence in her answer. “I know a few people here,” she replied vaguely before slipping into the crowd to look for her girlfriend.

“Come on Alex, it’s girls night!” Sydney announced, linking her arm through Alex’s.

Alex sighed, dropping her shoulders. “I really don’t want to be here.”

“Al, you need to get out of the house,” Yael said gently, looking at the striker. “This is good for you, I promise.”

“I think I need a drink,” Alex moaned, tugging at Sydney who dutifully led her to the first drinks they could find.

 _I wonder what Tobin’s up to right now_ , she thought, then suddenly wanted to take the thought back as the image of Tobin and the guy from the restaurant flashed through her mind.

 

Tobin hopped out of the car and looked at the bustling house getting more uneasy as she regretted ever saying yes in the first place. Before she could moan and groan about coming her eyes found some of her teammates in the front window. She turned her head to a group walking into the party ahead of her and Kelley. It was Hope, Alex, Sydney, and Kristie.

Her eyes widened “You told me there would be no drama, Kell.” Tobin hissed nervously as she kept her eyes on Alex’s figure in her perfect outfit choice for the night.

“Yeah, there’s won’t be any drama!” Kelley said not looking at what Tobin was looking at.

“Look! That looks a lot like drama right there!” Tobin said pointing to the rivals entering the party. “C’mon, it’s going to be like World War Three in there, we have to stop it!” she stated as she took the lead and grabbed Kelley’s arm this time to drag her into the party.

  
  


Alex was taking her sweet time with her alcohol intake, just barely finishing off one drink as Sydney grabbed a third. She couldn’t help but laugh a little. “You okay there?”

“I’m great!” Sydney chirped, beginning to chug down the newly acquired drink.

“Slow down there,” Kristie warned, tension evident in her voice. “We’ve got company.”

The two forwards turned their heads to where Kristie was facing. Alex gulped as she spotted Tobin with her teammates.

_Oh my god._

“Is that Allie Long?” Sydney spat, almost dropping her drink. “What the fuck are they doing here?”

“Out of all nights,” Alex mumbled to herself. “Out of all parties,” she went on, then was immediately reminded of the night she kissed Tobin.

“You know what? It’s about time that bitch gets what she deserves,” Sydney suddenly told them, getting up and leaving her drink on the table.

“Sydney,” Kristie let out an exasperated sigh, watching at Sydney shook up Yael’s gentle touch.

“The alcohol is giving her too much of a buzz,” Megan frowned, shaking her head as she took another swig. “Nothing holding her back tonight.”

“Here we go,” Kristie muttered, grabbing Alex’s wrist and dragging her after Sydney.

“No Kristie!” Alex hissed, tugging her arm but failing to get rid of Kristie’s grasp. “Let me stay over there,” she begged as they approached Tobin.

“It’s Sydney,” Kristie informed her, grip tightening. “She needs us.”

“Funny seeing you here,” Sydney said loudly as she strode towards Allie and her teammates.

Allie turned slowly at the familiar sound of Leroux’s voice, like an itch that wouldn’t go away.

“Go home Leroux, you’re sloppy” Allie scoffed as she took a step toward the girl.

Sydney let out a sound of disbelief. “You’re a bitch.”

Kristie looked at Alex for help, but the girl kept her head low to avoid looking at Tobin.

The midfielder clenched her jaw as she looked hard at Alex waiting for those blue eyes to look at her. But they didn’t. She heard Allie and Sydney bickering and it was just dead noise at that point compared to the overwhelming beating of her heart as she watched Alex’s head hang low.

 

Kelley was lingering in a corner with Hope until the both of them heard the familiar voices of their teammates.

“Oh no,” Kelley said as she looked over to see the scene breaking out.

Hope turned her head away from the freckled face she’d been admiring and frowned. “So how bad were you expecting this to get?”

Kelley hadn’t thought her plan through this far ahead. She knew the bickering and fighting would happen, but she had no idea how to get to the ‘better’ after the ‘bad’.

“Uh, this was a bad idea..” she murmured feeling ashamed that she should’ve known better.

Hope watched the Allie and Sydney go back and forth with short interjections from other teammates to either back of or to add their own comments. She saw Alex’s head down and noticed Tobin’s eyes on her as if willing for her to look up.

“I will fucking slap you!” she heard Sydney threaten. Hope looked back at Sydney to see the girl’s hand drawing back.

“SYDNEY!” Kristie exclaimed from her side, grabbing her shoulder.

The keeper’s eyes widened and she grabbed Kelley’s hand. “Time for us to show up,” she said, leading the smaller girl towards the group of soccer players.

“Dare you Leroux, You won’t fucking touch me!” Allie spat back.

The fight between Allie and Sydney seemed to be coming to a point-of-no-return as were Tobin’s growing feeling in her gut about Alex. She suddenly realized that all she wanted was to go over and hold her girl without fear. She knew the only thing holding her back was the stigma of being with her supposed rival. And that just wasn’t enough anymore.

Alex knew she should stop what was going on before someone got hurt. She knew Sydney wasn’t afraid of doing it - she’d done it once before and it left scars on the wrong person. But she also felt Tobin’s eyes on her. She felt the warm brown eyes almost making her skin burn. The surrounding silence between the two of them was too much to bear and Alex was sure she’d go crazy soon.

She wanted to end the rivalry; in fact she needed to, but how could she do it when Tobin had chosen it over her? It was almost like Tobin was daring her to say something this time. The forward knew if she opened her mouth, she wouldn’t know what would come from Tobin as a response, and she wouldn’t know how much truth it held.

 _Where the hell is Hope when I need her?_ Alex thought, unsure if she had anything in her to stop what was happening.

Tobin had enough. Enough of the rivalry, enough of being away from Alex, and enough of being in her own head. She pushed past Allie, ignoring the girl’s exclamation “What the hell” as she made her way to Alex .Tobin grabbed the girl’s face in her hands and kissed her before anything else made sense.

At Allie’s indignant “What the hell”, Alex had known something had shifted in the scene. She’d looked up just in time to feel Tobin’s hands on her face. The next thing she felt was Tobin’s lips on hers and she was in complete shock. It had been awhile since she’d felt so alive with something so familiar. Her initial shock over, Alex kissed the girl back as her hands found Tobin’s waist. She didn’t care about the fact that everyone was probably watching them. She didn’t stop to think about their reactions. She didn’t even think about the boy she’d seen Tobin with. All she was able to process was that it was Tobin in her grasp and on her lips, and she didn’t want her to leave.

Another exclamation came from Allie but this time even more pronounced and louder “WHAT THE FUCK?!” she nearly yelled as her eyes widened.

The room grew quiet as they all stared wide eyed at their two captains. Sydney’s jaw was open and most of the girls on either side were bewildered at the scene.

Kelley squeezed Hope’s hand as she held her breath not knowing what to do, especially now. Before anyone else could comment on what was happening, Hope was dragging her the rest of the way to the group of girls.

Alex pulled away slowly, not looking Tobin in the eye, instead she wrapped her arms around Tobin’s waist all the way and dug her head into the crook of her neck as a few tears escaped.

Tobin held Alex close as she felt the girl bury herself in her. “I’m sorry Alex, I love you” Tobin softly whispered as she held her even tighter. Tobin pondered how she ever thought she could live without Alex when this moment was everything.

“I love you too,” Alex managed to mumble even though her voice was raspy and softer with a sob being held back. She stayed buried into Tobin, not ready to face what was waiting for them.

“Well to answer your question Long,” Hope started and soon all eyes were on her. She stood about a foot in front of Kelley, eyes focused on the blonde. She almost laughed at the girl’s disbelief.

“Our captains here have been together for almost the whole season,” she smirked.

“WHAT?!” she heard from both sides and this time the keeper actually laughed.

“Guys really, this rivalry’s stupid. What are we even fighting for anymore? Do you have more of a reason to hate each other than the fact we both play good soccer and there are a few fouls here and there?” Hope asked, looking at all her teammates specifically.

Megan stared at her dumfounded. “What the fuck are you saying, Hope?”

“If Alex and Tobin can look past it, then can’t we all? I’m so sick of all the fights and having to do some damage control every time Syd opens her big mouth and Allie or Ashlyn says something to provoke her,” the keeper stated, looking at both Allie and Ashlyn as if to dare them to say something back at her.

“CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!” Allie heatedly shouted.

The room grew silent again as all eyes went to Hope, who seemed to be the only one who could shed some light on the situation.

“This!” Kelley said figuring it was her turn to stir the pot a little bit. She ran and jumped up on Hope, kissing her taller girlfriend.

Hope stumbled a little as she tried to find balance, holding Kelley upright. She smiled as she kissed back, lingering for a moment before pulling away.

“You’re an idiot,” she laughed softly, rolling her eyes.

“I’m your idiot” Kelley said with a smirk.

Hope gently placed Kelley down, wrapped her arm around the small defender securely. “Anymore questions?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a really long update, but I'd just like you to know this is the last full part we're posting. After this, it's the epilogue. We'd really like to know your feedback. ALSO, shout out to the anon who suggested the party to make it a "full circle". You're the best. :)


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are there any remains of a fine line?

While everyone had been even more shocked by Kelley and Hope, Tobin and Alex had untangled themselves from each other and Tobin took Alex’s hand, leading her outside of the building. The warm air made Alex’s heartbeat a little slower, but one glance at the girl next to her or the reminder of her hand in Tobin’s made it go faster all over again. She still had so many questions, but nothing was coming out of her mouth.

Tobin knew that her kiss wasn’t going to solve everything between her and Alex. Seeing her opportunity to get away from the party, she took Alex’s hand and led her outside while everyone turned their attention to Kelley and Hope. Her head was racing with words but putting them in a cohesive sentence seemed almost impossible. Alex wasn’t talking either. She led the both of them outside, the cool night sending yet another shock into their systems.

Not knowing what else to say Tobin blurted “I made my decision”.

Tobin’s voice startled the younger girl. She looked at her, biting her lip after she composed herself. “I’m not sure I know what it is,” Alex admitted, still confused from the previous night when she’d seen Tobin at the restaurant.

Tobin began to walk, linking her arm with the girl whose touch seemed to suddenly grow a little chillier at the comment. She was confused, to say the least. Had the kiss not been enough to show Alex that she chose her over any silly rivalry?

“What do you mean?” Tobin asked curiously and nervously.

Alex hesitated for a moment, unsure of why Tobin seemed oblivious to what she was referring to. Then again, she knew Tobin was oblivious to most things anyway. “Um...last night, Yael took me out to eat. I kind of saw you with some guy…” she trailed off not knowing how to finish her sentence.

It immediately dawned on Tobin what her girlfriend was assuming.

“Lex...Lauren tried setting me up with her friend Jeremy, but it never would’ve worked out.” Tobin said doing her best to stay serious.

Now it was Alex’s turn to be curious. “Why not?”

“You can’t be in love with two people at the same time, did you not watch enough disney growing up or something?” Tobin said finally letting her inner jokester out.

The younger girl rolled her eyes, letting out a mock scoff as she removed her arm from Tobin’s. “Ass,” she pouted, crossing her arms.

“I will admit though, jealous Alex Morgan is pretty darn cute” Tobin said jumping in front of Alex to stop her from walking.

Alex rolled her eyes, giving Tobin a light shove. “Whatever.” She was trying to fight the smile off her face.

Tobin chuckled as she knew she was getting to her girl. “Hmm maybe I should’ve chosen Jeremy, he wasn’t as abusive as you are.” Tobin said as she rubbed her shoulder where Alex shoved her in exaggeration.

“You’re such a dork,” the forward laughed, pulling Tobin’s towards her.

Tobin smiled as she felt Alex’s tug. Before she went in to kiss her, she stopped to say “I’ll always choose you, I’m sorry it took so long for me to realize that”

Alex gave a slight smile before saying, “These weeks without you have been the absolute worst in my life. Please don’t ever let me say goodbye again.”

“Once was enough for me” Tobin said with a growing smirk.

She slowly closed the distance between her and Alex, gently placing her lips against the girl’s. It was the kind of kiss that was sweet with desire yet mean with purpose. The kind of kiss that could start a war but at the same time create a lasting peace. It was a kiss that would cross the finest of lines. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...this is the end folks. I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as we did (tbh our favorite will always be part 6 bc Allie Long omfg). I always love writing with Kate, and it's officially our second fic written together. Hopefully there will be more! But for right now, I'm sorry (or not so sorry) to say there's no longer a fine line between these teams. ;)


End file.
